


The Legend of Spyro - A New Beginning (retold); book 1: The Swamplands

by G_raven42



Category: A New Beginning - Fandom, Legend of Spyro, Spyro, Spyro the Dragon - Fandom, re-imagine - Fandom, re-write - Fandom, retold - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Re-write, Retold, legend of spyro - Freeform, re-imagine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2020-05-02 05:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19192978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/G_raven42/pseuds/G_raven42
Summary: "may the ancestors look after you... may they look after us all"In the dragon realm, there is a prophecy. One of which has brought hope to a dying race. The dark armies are advancing, and the dragons only hope, is the life of a rare breed. The purple dragon. Only ever seen once before, and yet, another one has emerged. the future of the dragon race hinges on this child's survival. Only they hold the power necessary to defeat the dark armies greatest general. the black terror of the skies, Cynder. with power bestowed to her by her dark master, she poses the greatest threat to the purple dragon's future. Can this child rise to the occasion? Will they be able to defeat Cynder, before she enacts her master plan, and brings her master back into the world of the living, to wreak havoc across the realms?"It's time you learned how complicated life can be"





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> hello there! I'm G_raven42 and this is the first story I have posted on this site. I was previously using a site called "Fanfiction.net" by the username, "G.raven42", but I recently found out that not many people use that site anymore, so I switched over to this site. if you look me up on Fanfiction.net, you'll see that I left what few works I had, unfinished. I usually don't do that, but I felt that I wasn't putting in enough detail and that the story was going by too fast. so I discontinued my work on that site. heck, it's been so long I don't even remember my password, but I probably still have it written down somewhere... I'm rambling. anyway, I hope you enjoy this re-write of The Legend of Spyro trilogy. I got the idea because while I really loved the games and the story, I felt that it was perhaps executed a little poorly. except for the third game, which I felt was over a bit to fast. and yes, I have played through all three games from start to finish _without _needing to use cheat codes. so without further ado, here is the prologue to the first book in this series of my Legend of Spyro re-write, which I will be calling the "retold" series.__

“In the year of the dragon, in a world beyond realms. I, like all the others, awaited the birth of the dragon of whom the prophecies foretold… but the dark master heard the prophecies as well. I should have hidden the eggs long ago but I… I thought we were ready. I thought they were safe. Oh, how I was wrong.”

\-- Ignitus, The Summer Guardian

Crimson red flames engulfed the circular wooden door, and as the three flat white stones along its border, and the one in its centre, began glowing red, a perfect mirror image of the fire which had passed over it, seemed to trap the fire within, flickering and glowing with heat. The door appeared to groan in pain at the effort of opening, as though it had not done so in some time, and the dragon that walked through the opening seemed to share the sentiment. He was wearing a grave and empty expression on a red scaly face. His red eyes looked dull with hopelessness, not that anyone would have been able to tell had they been present with him, since the room was rather dark. That is, until the red dragon lifted his head and almost as an afterthought, looked at the torches along the wall. They roared to life with a ruby light that illuminated the pale orange marble wall, and seemed to dance across the dragons glossy eyes, though they remained unmoved by the vibrant display of light.

The door behind the mysterious figure began closing as the fire within the stones flickered and died. The loud booming sound it emitted as it shut echoed throughout the large circular room the dragon was now in, as empty and lifeless as the dragons soul. He stood there for a moment, as though entranced by the echo that so perfectly reflected his own emotions. Or lack thereof. Though he soon remembered why he had come. The room in which he now found himself had countless nests on an elevated stone shelf of sorts that traveled along the circular wall. The nests were full to the brim with eggs of every color and size. Though the most notable egg was separate from the rest.

At the exact opposite end of the room, there was a break in the nests outlining the wall where the wall itself was indented, and a short set of stairs led to an elevated platform upon which there was an intricately crafted pedestal. Behind the pedestal was a large tapestry, depicting a powerful dragon warrior, with fire in its right paw, and ice coating its left. Beneath the dragon, the ground seemed to tremble, and a thuderstorm raged violently above him. But what caught most eyes was the dragons unusual scale color. Purple.

The red dragon wandered across the room as if in a daze, barely acknowledging the circular disc of pale blue shimmering stone in the centre of the deep amber orange marble floor. Wisps of white traveled through the blue stone, like a phantom wind across a gentle river. There was a boarder around the stone slab made of gold and engraved with intricate symbols. The dragon’s claws click clacked against the stone floor as he trudged on, the only sound in the room apart from the faint crackling of the torches. Each step was a labored effort, bring him closer and closer to the source of his unwrest. The reason he had come here in the dead of night. Once he reached the pedestal, it became evident as to what it held atop it. A purple egg. With pale purple spots, nestled comfortably atop a dark purple pillow.

The dragon looked down at the egg as if in regret. His brows uplifted as tears emerged over the horizon of his tear ducts, and his eyes no longer empty. Instead, the creatures eyes glazed with pain and sadness, the likes of which most beings have never and would never see. One could hardly call this dragon a beast.

“I… I’m sorry…” the dragon whispered in a hoarse voice filled with an overwhelming amount of emotion threatening to cascade past his wall of restraint. “I wish you didn't have to endure this… this _thing _… this war. If only you could have a normal life… no destiny, no set path for you to follow…” the dragon looked away from the egg, trying to regain the composure he had swiftly been losing since entering the grotto. He loosed a shuddering breath and looked back at the egg.__

____

“I just want you to know freedom. The chance to think for yourself… choose your own path instead of…” the dragon paused again, then losing heart, dropped his head. Without looking back up, he said even fainter, “I’m sorry. So… very, very sorry.” it seemed as though he was no longer talking to the egg, but rather someone who was not present, yet oddly close. There was no sound in the chamber apart from the dragons uneven heartbeat, and the faint crackling of the torches that seemed to sing to the dragon a song of glory lost, and pain to come. The seconds dragged on, and it seemed as though the dragon had been standing there forever when he finally raised his head and whispered to himself, “What am I doing…” shaking his head in despair.

____

Suddenly, the dragons entire demeanor changed. He stood rigid, his mouth a hard line along his muzzle. He could feel something… something bad… and it was coming. fast. 

____

A golden hue reflected through his eyes as he channeled his powers of foresight more accurately. Looking around frantically, the dragon tried to make sense of what he felt was approaching. 

____

Suddenly, the whole room began to shake violently, as if their were a massive earthquake, though the dragons foresight told him it was not. It was bombs. The temple was under attack.

____

Just as the dragon came to this realization, the door across the room opened swiftly as the white stones around them glowed with the yellow light of electricity jolting through it. No sooner had the door opened than a yellow dragon launched himself through the vacant doorway.

____

“Ignitus! The temple is under siege!” the yellow dragon spoke swiftly. “The others were still catatonic when I left to come see you. Cyril and Terradore are no doubt arousing to the sound of turmoil, and I am fairly certain the barracks for our soldiers will be at the pinnacle of this dreadful night raid.”

____

The dragon who’s name seemed to be Ignitus slammed a fist to his forehead in frustration, anger, and shock. “Why didn’t I see this coming sooner! I have foresight, if only I hadn’t been so preoccupied with pointless…” Ignitus didn’t get to finish his thought as the yellow dragon swiftly came up to him and said, “That is moot now. Stop criticizing yourself and focus on our new top priority.” he looked into Ignitus’s eyes, searching for the leader he knew and so desperately needed right now. Ignitus’s shock and self pity seemed to ebb away and was replaced with a wise, calculating mind.

____

“Right… yes Volteer, you're right.” at Ignitus’s words, Volteer would have smiled had it not been for their current dire situation, though his relief was evident in his face as it relaxed a bit. Ignitus looked at Volteer with a new sense of purpose, the torch light dancing along his incandescent scales as he said, “Terradore will no doubt come to the same conclusion you did about the barracks being ambushed, so he should already be well on his way. And knowing him he probably guessed where I had gone in the middle of the night, so he will have left us to defend the grotto and took Cyril with him to aid the soldiers.”

____

Volteer nodded in understanding and said, “then let us defend our future.” Ignitus smiled genuinely at Volteer despite the circumstances and said to him softly but not without vigor, “First there is something I must do. A safeguard, if you will” he looked over his shoulder at the purple egg mere feet away, and as he looked back to Volteer their was understanding and hope reflecting across both eyes of ruby and of gold.

____

“Save our unborn hero, and may the ancestors be with you.” Volteer said as Ignitus turned and gingerly lifted the egg from its resting place atop the pedestal. With a nod, Ignitus passed by his friend and came to a stop above the blue stone in the rooms centre. Without hesitation, he breathed a powerful jet of fire flickering with red orange and gold, into the stone. Like the white stones surrounding the door to the grotto, the blue stone soaked up the heat and pulsed with a pure red aura as it acknowledged the power of the Summer Guardian and sank about a foot into the ground, then began sliding out of view beneath the floor. Once it was fully hidden, it revealed a yawning pit, complete with an ancient grey stone spiral staircase littered with cobwebs and ball shaped lamps that lit one by one as they traveled down the wall. Ignitus practically fell down the whole, completely ignoring the staircase.

____

The pit was deep. Very deep. And Ignitus was falling so fast that when the blue stone slab slammed shut above him, he could not hear it. It was also dark. The lamps lining the wall offered little light apart from what was necessary to keep those using the passage from stumbling on the stairs and falling into the yearning hole.

____

Finally, Ignitus saw the floor of the pit emerging in the distance, and he snapped his wings up so suddenly that they threatened to rip off. Ignitus ignored the pain as he landed roughly in front of a small circular stone door. The door was red, and a golden symbol had been placed in its centre. The symbol of the dragons. Their kingdom’s insignia.

____

Ignitus held the egg in his right paw closely to his chest, and with his left he pulled down a wooden lever on the wall and the stone door slid to the left, opening a doorway to a dank tunnel lined with roots and dripping with moisture. The smell that wafted in was even worse. It smelled as though the god of decay had taken sanctuary in the tunnel for over a century.

____

But Ignitus didn’t acknowledge any of these things, and instead took in the breeze. Damp cold air, flowing in from the outside world. He took one steady breath of “fresh” air, and launched himself into the tunnel, gliding at a rapid pace. Just like the pit he had been in moments prior, the tunnel seemed to go on forever, though unlike the staircase, it was full of twists and turns. Ignitus found himself slamming into the side of the tunnel more than once, and the roots were scratching his vulnerable underbelly and chest as he fled as fast as he could.

____

Finally, he emerged from the end of the tunnel to be greeted by the cool crisp fresh air of the starry night. He gulped down the air greedily as his chest was burning. Ignitus’s head cleared as his lungs were finally given the fresh air they so desperately craved.

____

Ignitus looked over his shoulder to see columns of smoke rising from where the temple lay in the distance, hidden by a heavy canopy of swampland trees. The entrance to the tunnel he had emerged from moments prior was located halfway up the cliffside that separated the trees from the mushroom swamp below.

____

Ignitus turned his attention back to what lay before him among the giant mushrooms. A river. The silver river.

____

He quickly glided down to it and landed with a heavy thud in the moist sand bordering the river. He looked up at the night sky, deepest blue and littered with countless white stars, as though he were looking for some greater being to aid him. His eyes slid down to the river, reflecting both the light of the stars and the purple glow emitted from the underside of the mushrooms of the swamp, and through some trick of the light, the colors blended together to make it glow silver.

____

Ignitus grabbed an overturned mushroom cap, far smaller than the ones looming above, and placed the purple egg gently within it. He then took a claw and slide it into the softer flesh of his pale yellow chest and pulled it back out, coated with blood. Pulling his claw back to the egg, he began drawing a symbol atop it with his blood. When he finished, the symbol began glowing bright white. Then suddenly, the light was gone, and the symbol no more than a faint shadow.

____

Ignitus gently pushed the egg into the silver river and it drifted away.

____

“May the ancestors look after you.” Ignitus said to the egg as it traveled farther and farther down the river. After only a brief moment of hesitation, he added, “May they look after us all.”

____

He watched as the egg disappeared down the river, then practically had to drag himself back into the air with a huff. He flew back to the tunnel entrance where he traveled back to the temple at a brisk pace, yet slower than he had previously, dread and doubt weighing into him. It seemed like an eternity until he finally got back the temple, right beneath the blue stone in the grotto, and he was not prepared for what he beheld as he opened the secret passage and entered the grotto.

____


	2. Predator

The sun lay amidst a sea of clouds stained orange and red as it began its descent towards the horizon, casting its rays across the wide expanse of the Mushroom Swamp, creating a warm golden glow. Beneath the canopy of colossal mushrooms, a grey hair scampered through the thick dew glazed grass of a small clearing, unaware of the danger it was in. for mere feet away, their lay a predator, hidden by the undergrowth of the swamp, just outside of the clearing.

The beast stalking the animal was about four to five times its size, and leaden with strong, yet lean muscles like steel. The beast was low to the ground, barely moving, and not making a sound. It surveyed its prey with near glowing amethyst eyes, its razor sharp claws white as pearls as it braced its paws on the sodden ground. Its tail swooshed slowly back and forth in anticipation of the hunt, capped at the end with a blunt yellow spearhead-shaped bone protruding from the end of the tail. The beast parted the lips of its muzzle and flicked its pointed tongue out thrice to get a better scent, revealing teeth as white as its claws, though noticeably blunt. Despite this, however, the beasts powerful jaws seemed to compensate with the promise of a grip like death. Upon closer examination, however, the front teeth looked notably sharper than its rear teeth.

Suddenly, the hair stood high on its back legs, ears and nose twitching as it sensed danger, and the predator went still as death, eyes widening as it was afraid of losing its quarry. The hair looked directly at the beast. The eyes of predator and prey met each other and held. However strange it may seem, it was as though the two of them spoke silently to each other. The hair seemed to say “what are you? Are you hungry?”. Then the predator seemed to respond with “sorry, but when you gotta eat, you gotta eat”. The hair bolted, and the beast spoke.

“Dang it!” it shouted in a surprisingly smooth and youthful male voice. Then it gave chase.

The hair darted straight through to the other side of the clearing and disappeared behind the brush before the predator had even broken through the cover of its hiding place, but that didn’t stop him.

As the beast broke into the clearing, the rest of its features became rather evident in the golden glow of the swamp. It was four-legged, with back legs that suggested a powerful jump and swift sprinting abilities. It had a scaly purple hide, with a yellow underbelly and chest, with horns wings and a crest of matching color. The membranous webbing of its wings and crest were red, and its horns were pointed back and went up, then down, then back up again, curving slightly into dull points. Its jaw looked a bit blocky, though its muzzle looked a bit more youthful due to it being slightly curved. Its wings had been tucked closely to its body, but now they were stretched out, though still furled inward a bit. In their current position, his wings seemed to help him cut through the wind at breakneck speed.

The beast reached the other end of the clearing almost as fast as the hair that had disappeared seconds prior, braced his shoulders, tucked in his wings, and lowered his head so that his horns were pointed forward… and piledrived through the thicket blocking his path.

When the beast emerged again, he remained unscathed by the thorns. He lifted his head and swiftly followed the tracks left in the sodden earth. Twisting and turning as the hair had, he leapt over branches and used his wings to help him make those sharp turns. After a few heartbeats, the hair appeared within his line of sight and the predator smiled, quickening his pace as the thrill of the chase took over all other reasonings and instincts.

The hair leapt over a fallen tree trunk in a single swift movement. The beast leapt in anticipation, its front claws extended, and as they sank into the soft bark the beast used its powerful front legs to thrust itself up and over the rest of the log. As he fell, however, his back legs hit the log, unbalancing him slightly. Despite this however, the beast was able to quickly correct himself as he landed on the other side of the obstacle. With barely another thought, he continued after his prey.

The hair made a sharp right, and in response, the beast leapt through the air, aiming for the base of a tree, and using his back legs to thrust himself off the side of the tree, with the help of his wings to keep him steady, he quickly made the same sharp right. Unfortunately, as he landed, he skidded across the moist soil. He tried to stop himself, but he couldn't prevent it as he slipped and landed on his side. To the beasts credit though, he didn't hesitate to pick himself up and continue the chase.

Almost without thinking, the beast launched through the air and grabbed a branch with his claws, spinning around it twice and then letting go. The beast fully opened his wings as he soared through the air, coming to a fast glide. It didn't take too long for him to spot the hair again and he angled himself down, falling out of the sky like a cannonball. He landed mere inches behind the hair, though the impact made his back legs slip out from under him.

Like before, however, he quickly recovered, but now he was no less than a foot and a half away from the hair. The predator's mouth began to water as the sent of the hair wafted through his nostrils and coated his sensitive tongue. It made him run faster. And before either the hair or the beast knew what was happening, the scaly creature leapt with outstretched claws and found fur and flesh as they drew blood from the hair. The beast hit the ground with the animal in his claws and rolled forward across the ground several times, making him dizzy. He stopped abruptly as his head slammed into a rock and the hair was wrenched from his grip, landing not too far away.

“Ugh…” the beast groaned in pain as he shifted to lay on his stomach and held his head in his paws. After a few seconds, the beast lifted his head, seeing double and feeling a migraine coming on. He breathed heavily in through the nose and out through the mouth, trying to regain his composure. As his vision steadied, he realized something terrifying. The hair was still alive.

The little creature's body was rising and falling, though not steadily. It was in pain, bleeding out slowly.

The beast came over to the hair on unsteady feet, not just from the migraine forming in his head. He looked down at the hair, and once again, silent words were exchanged. “Please…” the hair seemed to say. “Please just end it… the pain.”

The beast looked at the hair with eyes that seemed to say “Okay… I’m sorry” then the beast grabbed the hair’s head in his paws and swiftly broke its neck. He let loose a shuddering breath.

“Is… is it done?” someone asked from behind the beast. He looked over his shoulder to find a yellow glowing insect hovering towards him slowly. It was a dragonfly, but dragonflies in the dragon realm look a bit different. The tiny creature had two arms with three fingers on each hand, a face with flat white teeth, blue eyes, and two antennae poking out from the top of its head.

“Sparx?” the beast asked the dragonfly, sounding vaguely surprised. “What are you doing here?”

The dragonfly named Sparx seemed taken aback as he said “I… I said I would come…” 

“I thought you were joking.”

“Why would I have been joking?” Sparx narrowed his eyes as he asked the beast, and the scaly creature shrugged his shoulders in response.

“Look…” the beast began, turning fully around to more comfortably address the small dragonfly. “I know I’m… different. I know you guys don’t eat meat but… I’m not going to go hungry because it bothers you, and I’m not going to apologize for that… but I've never asked that you accompany me on my hunts.” the beast locked eyes with Sparx that conveyed the genuinity of his words.

“I know it makes you uncomfortable, so I would never ask of you…”

“Spyro.”

The beast paused as Sparx said his name, and the dragonfly continued. “You know I can be a pain sometimes with the whole… hunting thing.” the beast named Spyro narrowed his eyes and said, “yeah, no kidding. In fact, I’m surprised you didn’t complain to me about how long it took me to kill this hair.” and with a nod towards the dead animal behind him, he lifted a brow at Sparx as if expecting him to take this opportunity to do just that. He almost looked taken off guard by Sparx’s next words.

“Normally I would, but I realize it's difficult for you. You don’t have anyone to teach you how to hunt properly.” at that, Spyro’s brows lifted.

“Should I take that as a compliment or…” Spyro smirked as Sparx tried not to do the same.

“I’m trying to be sincere here Spyro.”

“Oh, how humble of you my good sir.” Spyro teased, inclining his head dramatically. “Since when are you all Mr. Empathy.” he said a bit more frankly.

Sparx simply looked at Spyro for a few seconds before saying, “I came out here so I could get used to who you are. What's in your nature.” Sparx paused, putting a hand behind his head and explaining further after a few seconds. “While you were gone on one of your hunts yesterday, I heard some stuff from the other dragonflies that made me think. Just saying…” Sparx looked to Spyro as though he were waiting for him to interrupt with a joke, but Spyro didn’t say anything and simply let Sparx continue. “I don’t want to be like the others. They're ignorant, and I know they make you feel like you don’t belong, so… I want to be a brother you can count on to be supportive, even if we're not legitimately related.”

Spyro looked at Sparx for a few heartbeats before saying, “that was a very heartwarming speech.” Sparx huffed disappointedly, but Spyro interrupted before he could say anything. “No no, seriously. It was very thoughtful of you to come all the way out here so you could say that. Knowing that I was out on a hunt.” Spyro smiled at Sparx, and the dragonfly returned the gesture.

“Though…” Spyro began again. “I’m pretty sure you don’t want to watch me eat.” Sparx gulped and smiled nervously at Spyro, though Spyro didn’t seem to mind the dragonflies display of uncomfortability.

“I’ll… leave you to it…”

* * *

“Hey, Sparx!”

The yellow dragonfly looked towards the call of his foster brother behind him and when his eyes met Spyro’s, the purple creature continued. “You com'n, or not?”

“Com’n!” Sparx said hastily as he flew over to catch up with his brother. Spyro and Sparx strolled through the swamp quietly for a few, passing by small willow-like trees covered in pale moss. While the large mushrooms made up pretty much the entire canopy of the swamp, there were still countless trees lining the ground of the swamp beneath the mushroom caps, evidently not needing much sunlight to survive.

The only sound was that of Sparx’s buzzing wings and the autumn leaves crunching, and the muddy soil squelching beneath Spyro’s paws as he padded forward. Eventually, Sparx cut a glance at Spyro, and when his brother noticed, he looked away.

“Som’n on your mind?” Spyro asked casually. Sparx hesitated, then, sucking in a breath to steady himself, he asked, “Have you ever… felt like… maybe you were… meant for something?”

Spyro glanced at Sparx then asked just as casually as before, “meaning?”

Sparx bit his lip and was silent for long enough that Spyro thought he wouldn’t continue, but then he spoke again. “I mean… you seem like you'd be pretty good at fighting, what with those… teeth and claws.” Spyro narrowed his eyes at Sparx in contemplation, then sighed. “Are you trying to make me feel better about being pretty much the exact opposite of everyone else?”

“No, no…” Sparx said shaking his head. “I just…” he paused, dropping his hands to his side, head bent down. “I feel like you’re a bit hard on yourself. Ya know?” Spyro opened his mouth to say something, but Sparx continued, lifting his head. “Sure, you’re obviously a predator, and I’d say you’re pretty high up on the food chain, but that doesn’t mean you’re not a person.”

“Are you saying, I might be different on the outside, but I’m the same on the inside?”

Sparx smiled and said excitedly, “yes! Exactly.”

Spyro grinned and said, “oh, how nice. I suppose next you’ll tell me to embrace the magic of friendship?” Sparx frowned at the sarcasm in his voice.

Spyro shook his head and loosed a breathy sigh. Sparx looked like he would have continued, but noticing Spyro’s expression, he felt that it would be best to continue this conversation at a later date.

So the two of them continued through the swamp and as they walked, or flew in Sparx’s case, Spyro grew less annoyed and more… contemplative. When they finally reach their destination, Spyro seemed to have totally forgotten the discussion, as that his face lit with a genuine smile. They walked into a large clearing with a glowing purple crystal in its centre, lined with silver from the light of the moon just beginning to shine over the horizon of mushrooms.

Spyro and Sparx were entering the clearing from an archway of vines and thorns.

Spyro took a deep breath and said with satisfaction, “ah… home. Nice to be back.” Sparx rolled his eyes and smirked at his brother as they carried onward through the clearing.


	3. out past curfew

The dragonfly grove was glazed with a purple and silver glow and a crisp night breeze made Spyro feel light and cozy. Small insects could be heard making a symphony of gentle bedside music, making Spyro drowsy. Or perhaps it was because it was past his and Sparx’s curfew. Or a combination of the two.

Spyro padded away from the bramble archway he and Sparx had emerged from, one of the only breaks in the wall surrounding the grove.

Their home was located in a large pit or crater-like space, so they were surrounded on all sides by earthy walls. There were only a few sections where the ground became level with the border of the grove, one of which being the pathway that led to Spyro’s hunting grounds. Around the border of the grove were several small makeshift homes, meant for the dragonflies. All the lights were out.

Spyro and Sparx made their way to a large home at the opposite side of the grove that looked like a large mound of soil and moss with a door and some windows. The front door was a circle with a handle in the middle that doubled as a door knocker. And it was far too small for Spyro. To the left of the front door, there was what looked like a spiral staircase made of thick branches wrapping around the hut, and it led all the way to the top, where there was a small tree with low hanging branches and a canopy of moss covering the leaves, and beneath it was a nest of branches, leaves, and moss. Spyro’s bed. Unfortunately, the lights inside were still on.

Pressing himself against the ground behind the large purple crystal in the grove’s center, Spyro looked at Sparx with a raised brow and his dragonfly brother asked, “what?”

“Well? How ya wanna do this?”

Sparx rolled his eyes at his brother’s implication. “Do we really need to sneak home and pretend we weren’t out past our bedtime?” Spyro looked at Sparx with abhorrence.

“Don’t call it bedtime. Say curfew.”

Sparx grinned mischievously at his brother. “Why? Does it bother you? That I say _bedtime?_ ”

__Spyro glared at his brother. “Only babies say bedtime.”_ _

__“Ya know…” Sparx began. “We’re still technically kids.” and Spyro’s glare became deeper. But before he could say anything, Sparx continued. “It just bugs me how much it seems like you want to grow up. Like you want to be an adult before you’ve even had a childhood.”_ _

__“You can’t tell me what I want. You aren’t me!” Spyro said, pointing an accusatory claw at his foster brother as he continued. “I’ve already had my childhood. It’s _boring!_ It might not bother you, but I don’t like being cooped up in this stupid grove. I want to _explore!_ ” Spyro’s expression seemed to soften as he paused for but a moment before looking towards one of the exits of the grove. It was a giant snake skull, which marked the only easy exit to the dragonfly grove. It stood ominously, adjacent from Spyro and Sparx’s home. But to Spyro, it wasn’t scary. Rather, it was a symbol… of hope, and wonder. Of curiosity._ _

__

__Spyro looked down at his paws as he said, “I just can’t wait for the day when I’ll get to go out there and see the rest of the world.”_ _

__

__Even Sparx was quiet in the moments that past, but he soon broke the silence. “Don’t worry bro. You’ll get to go out their someday… but for now, how about you just enjoy what you’ve got.”_ _

__

__Spyro looked up at Sparx in silent contemplation. Then, looking back towards the snake skull, he said, “‘someday’, isn't soon enough. I want out _now!_ ” he dug his claws into the damp soil at his paws in frustration._ _

____

__“Well…” Sparx began. “No point in complaining about what can’t be changed…” Sparx paused as he noticed that Spyro was still looking at the snake skull, barely paying attention, if at all, to what he was saying. “Spyro?” still no response. “You aren’t… thinking about… sneaking out, are you?”_ _

____

__Spyro whipped his head around so quickly that Sparx actually recoiled, and he said “so what if I am? What are you gonna do about it?”_ _

____

__“Hey, hey, calm down dude…”_ _

____

__“No! You can't tell me what to do or not to do! I’m sick of you always trying to control me!”_ _

____

__Sparx stared at Spyro in surprise and hurt. “I’m not trying to control you, I just don’t want you to get into trouble.”_ _

____

__“So what if I get myself in trouble? That's not your problem!” Spyro barked back with a snarl. “Stop trying to protect me! I don’t need or want it! I don’t need _anyone!_ ”_ _

_____ _

__Sparx’s look seemed to soften with… sympathy? “I don’t care what you say, everyone needs support…” Spyro cut him off with a bite._ _

_____ _

__”Would you just get off my case? Jeez!”_ _

_____ _

__“Are you boys going to sneak into bed, or are you just going to stand there arguing all night?”_ _

_____ _

__Both Spyro and Sparx’s eyes widened at the familiar rosy voice that came out of nowhere. They slowly looked around the side of the crystal they were hiding behind to find a red and green dragonfly hovering mere feet away._ _

_____ _

__In unison, Spyro and Sparx exclaimed, “Mom!”_ _

_____ _

__Their mother began smiling. “You know, you can’t really sneak around if you’re arguing loud enough to wake the whole grove.”_ _

_____ _

__Spyro and Sparx looked around the grove, and to their horror, they found that most of the homes had their lights on now. They could even see some dragonflies looking out their windows at them. They looked back at their mom with heavy heads, and once again spoke in unison. “Sorry mom.”_ _

_____ _

__Arms crossed, their mother said, “Go on to bed. We’ll talk about this in the morning.”_ _

_____ _

__Heads hanging low, Spyro and Sparx walked over to the house. But their mom stopped sparx with a hand on his shoulder. “I want to talk to you about something first Sparx.”_ _

_____ _

__Spyro and Sparx looked at their mother in confusion. “Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble… yet.” she smirked, and Spyro continued toward the house with a nod to his brother, his claws dragging through the soil and his tail limp behind him._ _

_____ _

__Once Spyro was out of earshot, Their mother addressed Sparx with a whisper. “What’s wrong?”_ _

_____ _

__“What? Their-theirs nothing wrong, why would you think something’s wrong, I mean that's just…” Sparx’s mom interrupted him before he could get winded by how fast he was talking._ _

_____ _

__“Sparx. I’m your mother. I know when something is wrong.”_ _

_____ _

__Sparx glanced back at Spyro, who had just started to ascend the staircase wrapping around the house to his bed, then looked back at his mom and asked, “What about Spyro? Didn’t you notice that he’s upset too?”_ _

_____ _

__“Yes I did.” Sparx’s mom said, looking a little regretful. “But he’s not as open about his feelings when he’s upset. I have to wait until he’s had time to cool off. Besides, I’m pretty sure I know what this is about.”_ _

_____ _

__Sparx looked up at his mom and was greeted by eyes glazed with empathy, not sympathy. He looked down and sighed. “I don’t know what’s wrong. Recently, Spyro’s seemed more… distant. More irritable. I feel like he’s…”_ _

_____ _

__“Itching to leave?”_ _

_____ _

__Sparx looked back up at his mom, who opened her arms for him, and he entered her embrace. She placed a hand on top of her son’s head and said soothingly, “I know. You're afraid of losing him. But trust me when I say, he will never leave you.” at that, Sparx began tearing up, letting out a few muffled sobs. “Apart from me, your the only person who’s accepted him for who he is. Even if he were to leave, he would realize how lost he is without you. I can guarantee he would miss you very dearly. You’re brothers, for better or for worse, till the end.” Sparx’s sobs became more regular as he started to cry softly._ _

_____ _

__Sparx’s mom pulled away just enough that she could look her son in the eyes. “Listen to me Sparx.” Sparx’s crying eased and he looked into his mother’s mossy green eyes as she said, “nothing can _ever_ take away what you have with your brother. That relationship, despite not being your real brother, is something precious. Nothing and no one can change that, because, that’s who you are.” Sparx began crying again. “You’ll be there for each other, always. Even if Spyro can be difficult sometimes, you always have his back. Even if he’s a jerk sometimes.” she said that last part with a smirk and Sparx giggled a little, breaking up his sobs._ _

_____ _

__Sparx and his mom looked at each other in silence for a few heartbeats before she continued. “You two may be complete opposites, but you have a brotherly relationship that will last. You know why?” She smiled at Sparx for a moment before continuing. “Because you’re there for each other. When one is weak, the other is strong, and together, you can accomplish anything. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”_ _

_____ _

__Sparx looked up at his mom with a smile. “Thanks mom.” she smiled back and said, “now how's about you head to bed.”_ _

_____ _

__Sparx embraced her once more before heading over to the already sleeping Spyro. Sparx snuggled up against his brother, who had curled himself into a ball like a dog below the tree, and quickly fell asleep._ _

_____ _

____

* * *

_  
_

_____ _

__“Well?”_ _

_____ _

__Nina paused for a moment at the sudden question as she entered her home and shut the door behind her. She looked around the room she was in, a foray with an archway to her left that led to what appeared to be a kitchen, and a living space to her right. She found that a blue dragonfly was leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, the source of the hard but handsome voice._ _

_____ _

__“Well, what?” she said to the other dragonfly._ _

_____ _

__The blue dragonfly came over to her and said, “did you tell them what their consequence was going to be?”_ _

_____ _

__Nina rolled her eyes and said “no, not yet Flash. I’ll tell them tomorrow.”_ _

_____ _

__Nina looked up at the dragonfly she had called Flash and after a few seconds, he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and braced her forearms against his chest to keep his face in her line of sight, and he smiled, though she didn’t return the gesture._ _

_____ _

__“What’s wrong?” Flash asked, a little concern showing in his voice._ _

_____ _

__Nina said, “You know what’s wrong.” at that, Flash cocked his head and narrowed his eyes in question. “Why don’t you take any initiative in our children’s lives aside from discipline?”_ _

_____ _

__Flash sighed, looking away and loosening his grip around her, though their waists remained pressed against each other. He looked back at his wife as if waiting for her to continue, but seeing that it had not been a rhetorical question, he said, “they need to learn independence. How else will Spyro be prepared when the time comes for him to return to his own kind?”_ _

_____ _

__“And Sparx?” Nina said, raising her chin._ _

_____ _

__Flash seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying, “both of them need to be prepared for when they need to say goodbye.”_ _

_____ _

__“Do they need to say goodbye?”_ _

_____ _

__Flash once again looked at her inquisitively. “Are you suggesting that our son leave with Spyro?”_ _

_____ _

__“They’re _both_ our sons!” she snapped, finally shoving Flash off of her. “Why can’t you accept Spyro as ours?”_ _

______ _ _

__“But he’s not ours.” Flash said gently. “I know you've grown attached to him, but that's exactly why I don’t interact with him the way you do. He’ll have to leave someday, and it will only be harder if we pretend that he’s ours.”_ _

______ _ _

__Nina looked down, and Flash came over to her side, resting an arm around her neck. “I know it’s hard, but it will happen sooner or later.” he paused for a moment, as if expecting her to object, but when she didn’t, he continued softer and more gently, “the best thing to do is to get them ready for the real world. We don’t want Spyro going out there thinking everything will be easy. We can’t sugarcoat things for him.”_ _

______ _ _

__There was silence for a moment, then Nina placed a hand atop the hand her husband had draped around her shoulders. The silver ring with its red gem glinting in the candlelight around her finger as she squeezed his hand tightly._ _

______ _ _

__“Why don’t we head to bed?” Flash said to her, and wordlessly, they made their way to their bedroom._ _

______ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave comments! I'd love to receive your feedback.


	4. Morning talk

He could hear birds chirping and insects buzzing. After a moment, he slowly opened his eyes to find the sun just starting to emerge over the horizon. Spyro lifted his head and silently yawned, jaws wide and pink pointed tongue curling.

Spyro shifted his head to look at the slumbering Sparx on his back. He smirked as he realized that his brother was snoring softly.

“Sparx.” at Spyro’s call, Sparx’s snoring became slightly louder. “Sparx!”

“Hehwhoswhatshappn’n” The dragonfly mumbled as he jolted awake and found his brother smiling down at him. “Has anyone ever told you that you snore?”

“I don’t snore!” Sparx said indignantly, propping himself up on an arm.

“Yes, you do.”

“If that’s true, why didn’t you ever tell me, huh?” Sparx said raising his brows. Spyro smiled and said, “thankfully, I’m a deep sleeper.”

Sparx snorted and said with a grin, “at least I don’t talk in _my_ sleep. Seriously, all night, every night, I have to listen to you talk about how great you are. In your sleep! I mean, come on! Your ego can’t possibly be _that_ big.”

Spyro simply smiled and said, “You know it. I’m cool like that.”

Sparx’s jaw dropped as he said incredulously, “how is bragging about yourself cool?!”

Spyro burst out laughing, and when he saw Sparx’s grimace, he started laughing so hard that he actually started coughing. “Ah… oh…” finally, Spyro calmed down, but he was still grinning broadly, much to his brother’s dismay.

Sparx sighed and finally lifted himself off his brother’s back and began hovering lazily as he stretched his arms and tried to blink away the sleep still lurking in his eyes.

“Come on…” Spyro said, a giant grin still on his face. “Let’s go have some fun!” he exclaimed as he brought himself to his paws, stretching out his body like a cat and yawning widely again, though this time it was rather audible. Once he had woken up fully, Spyro launched himself through the air. He flipped forward a few times through empty space before landing on the grove floor flawlessly, wings outstretched and tail wagging back and forth. He turned his head to look up at Sparx who rolled his eyes and muttered, “show off.”

Sparx flew back over to Spyro’s side, but before they were able to take a single step, they heard someone call from behind them, “where do you think _you're_ going?”

Spyro and Sparx very slowly turned their heads behind them and found their mom with arms crossed looking at them smugly. “Didn’t I say we would talk about what happened last night?”

“But _mom!_ ” Spyro and Sparx pleaded in unison.

“No buts. You two were out past your bedtime.”

At that, Sparx looked at Spyro with a smug little smile, and his brother looked away with a scowl. But their attention was brought back to their mom when she continued. “Now, I was going to ground you for a day, but after thinking about it, I've decided that you would only be grounded for as long as it takes Spyro to tell me what's been going on with him.”

Spyro’s eyes widened at that, and he cut a glance at Sparx who was looking at him with steal in his eyes.

“I-I don’t think that’s… really necessary…” Spyro said shrugging his shoulders with a nervous smile and holding up his paws. When he noticed his mom raise a brow, he sighed and said “fine.”, lowering his head in annoyance.

With a satisfied nod, Nina said, “Now Sparx, please head inside until I tell you your grounding is over.”

Wordlessly, Sparx headed inside their house, and Spyro’s mom took the large purple predator around the back to talk to him a bit more privately. He didn’t tend to talk openly when he had an audience.

“So…” Spyro’s mom began as he sat on his haunches and looked at her unenthusiastically hunched over.

“So?” Spyro asked matter-of-factly.

“Are we going to talk about it?” Nina asked gently. Spyro looked away, scowling.

“I don’t know what you're talking about.” he said flatly.

“You know. You just don’t want to talk about it. The attitude.”

Nina looked at her son, trying to get him to look at her in return, but then, seeing his persistence in remaining grumpy, she crossed her arms and said, “Look, we can sit here all day. I’m prepared to wait as long as you are.”

Spyro huffed, and with a defeated expression, he looked at his mom.

“I don’t know. What do you want me to say?”

“I just want you to be honest with me.” Nina said, coming closer to her son and laying a comforting hand on the side of his head, right next to the base of one of his horns. “You can tell me anything.”

Spyro was silent for a moment, but then he sighed and said, “I feel like I don't belong. I'm just so _different_ from everyone else. I just wonder if there's someplace where there are creatures like me. _Whatever_ I am.”

Spyro looked down at the ground sadly, and his mother was at a loss for words for some time. Finally, she said, “I know. It’s hard being different, but there's nothing wrong with it.” she looked down at her son, but he still looked depressed, so she continued. “There's only so much you can do. Your a good person, but lately you seem to be getting more irritable, and you haven't been this way in the twelve years I've known you.”

Spyro sighed yet again, but didn’t say anything. “You know what I think?” Nina asked, drawing Spyro’s attention. “I think you’re feeling left out. Your at that age when dragonflies have their glimmer.”

The glimmer. That point in a dragonflies life when their magic powers begin to emerge. Most of it is healing, shielding, and protection magic.

“Maybe a little…” Spyro admitted, looking down hesitantly. Heck, even Sparx had his glimmer already. “But what if I never have a glimmer?” Spyro asked. “What if whatever I am… isn’t magical. What if I'm just a regular old predator.

Nina drew her hands around Spyro’s chin, and with a glint of red magic from her ring, she made Spyro look at her. When their eyes met, she said gently, but not without vigor, “You are _anything_ but a ‘regular old predator’. That I know for certain.” Nina assured Spyro warmly, and he pulled his head away again smiling, maybe even blushing a little at her words.

“But…” Nina began again. “There are… other things that happen around the same time as the glimmer.” she looked at Spyro in contemplation, and he returned her gaze. “Usually your father would be the one to talk to you about this sort of thing, but… I know the two of you don’t have the closest relationship.”

Spyro looked down again and dragged a claw nervously through the damp soil at his paws, creating swirly patterns. He didn’t really _know_ his father. He barely spoke to the guy. In fact, he sometimes wondered if Flash even cared about him.

“Yeah…” was all Spyro managed to say.

Nina looked at Spyro sympathetically, then said, “I’m sure you already know where I'm going with this. I have talked to you about puberty before, so I don't think I need to go into too much… detail.”

Spyro refused to make eye contact with his mom, but she didn’t blame him. She’d never met single a kid that was comfortable talking about this subject. Especially if it was a boy talking about it with their mother. Usually, their dad would deal with, ‘the talk’.

“Unfortunately…” Nina began again. “it may be worse for you since you’ve never actually… met another one of your species. I imagine your hormones… will be a lot worse than they should be. Which may explain your recent unrest.”

At that, Spyro finally gave his mother his attention.

“I understand you're going through some things you may not understand yet, but it’s a natural part of growing up.” Nina said gently. “I promise you that one day, you will get to explore the world. But until that day comes, please try to stay out of trouble?” she asked with a grin, and Spyro mischievously smirked in return. “I'm trying to be a bit more lenient with you, but don't think this gives you an excuse to go around make’n trouble.” she said with a knowing smile, of which was mirrored by her son. 

“Now…” Nina continued. “You go tell Sparx that you boys are free to go.”

“Yes!” Spyro shouted, leaping excitedly up into the air with a wing flap. He landed on the ground again with his head lowered and his hindquarter in the air, his tail wagging furiously and looking up at his mom with sparkling amethyst eyes.

“Thanks mom!” Spyro said to his mom chipperly as he straightened and darted past her to the front of the house. His mom simply smiled and shook her head, mumbling to herself, “adorable…”

Once he was standing mere feet in front of the circular door of the house, Spyro shouted, “Sparx! Hey Sparx! Mom said we can go play now!”

Almost instantly, Sparx burst out the front door and nearly collided with his brother.

Wide-eyed, Sparx exclaimed, “that was quick. A lot faster than I had expected.”

“Well…” Spyro began with a smirk, “what can I say? I’m cool like that.”

Sparx smiled and said, “What was that? Five minutes since you last said those _same_ , _exact_ words? That’s a record!”

Beaming brightly, Spyro said, “come on! Let's go!”

And with that, Spyro and Sparx scampered of happily through the grove.


	5. Playtime!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what's this? two updates in one day? unfortunately, this probably won't happen very often. originally, I was trying to write at a faster pace than I was publishing, but I think I might just post every chapter once they're done. also, the last chapter seemed a little short to me, but this chapter is a bit longer, so... anyway, enjoy the extra chapter!

“…eight, nine… ten! Ready or not, here I come!” Spyro said as he swung around from the tree he had been leaning against, his wings draped over his closed eyes. Now he was crouching with his wings outstretched, looking side to side, scanning the area for something. Or someone.

Spyro was currently in a section of the grove not too far from the main village area, so it was also surrounded on all sides by earthy walls, though these ones were crawling with roots. Spyro was in the center of the clearing with the tree. In front of him was the pathway that lead back to the village.

Spyro slowly walked around the tree, all the while observing his surroundings in search of his brother. As he came to the other side of the tree, he could see a sort of ramp-like segment of the ground starting to his right and traveling across the wall towards the left. There was a section of the wall that indented with a small waterfall filling up a small pond within. At this point, the ramp-like structure became a thin bridge traveling across the empty space.

First, Spyro trotted over to the small area containing the pond. He did a quick once-over, sure that Sparx wouldn’t be dumb enough to try hiding here, then he went around to the ramp and began ascending. Once he reached the bridge of dirt and clay however, he felt like something wasn’t quite right. He scanned over the clearing again, better able to do so at higher ground. Then he spotted it. There was a faint yellow glow almost concealed by the leaves of the center tree.

A devious smile crept onto Spyro’s muzzle as he said, “I see you, my little glowing friend.”

Sparx poked his head out of the leaves and said with a grin, “seeing and catching are two different things, big boy.”

Without warning, Spyro leapt through the air, wings outstretched, crashing into the leaves of the tree and sending Sparx hurtling out of the canopy. Spyro tried to find a branch that could support his weight, but when he sank his claws into the thickest one he could find, he heard a snapping sound that made him stop his struggling dead, the lower half of his body just dangling in midair. There were a few seconds of nothing… then, the branch snapped and Spyro landed on the swamp floor with a heavy thud.

Laying on his back, Spyro sucked in a breath, then breathed out. No longer winded, Spyro flipped himself back onto his paws, the mud making a squelching sound as he pulled his back out of it. Spyro craned his head to look at his mud and moss covering his back and scrunched his nose in distaste. Then he shook himself like a wet dog, the mud flying everywhere.

“Hey, watch it!”

Spyro finished shaking himself off and looked towards the voice of his brother to find him hovering not too far away, wiping some mud off his tail. Spyro simply grinned at Sparx in amusement.

Without warning, once again, Spyro leapt for Sparx, but the dragonfly barely evaded his grasping paws. Sparx chuckled and said, “ah… never catch me this time, purple boy!” then he flew off in the direction of the ramp and disappeared behind a bend leading into the rest of this part of the grove.

“Yeah, you’d better run!” Spyro said jovially.

So Spyro chased after him, running up the ramp and across the bridge. As he trotted along the clay structure, it made a shifting, cracking sound, but Spyro either didn’t notice or didn’t think much of it. That is, until the whole darn thing collapsed beneath him.

“Wow!” Spyro shouted as he leapt forward with his claws outstretched. The front half of his body landed on the newly generated cliffside, but his hindquarters were dangling off the edge. He frantically scratched at the ground, trying to pull himself all the way on, but right then, the small segment of the ground beneath him fell away as well, and Spyro has sent crashing into the ground below. Thankfully it wasn’t a very far drop. Only about six feet.

Spyro smashed the side of his face into the jagged remnants of the clay bridge and fell over to the side, rolling into the little murky pond.

“Spyro! Are you okay? I heard you scream!”

Spyro dragged his head out of the water with a gasp, scowling at what had just transpired, and at the mud that was now in his eyes. He wiped the dirt and grime from his tear ducts, coughed a little, then said in a hoarse voice between coughs, “I’m f-fine. I just fell” 

Spyro looked up to see Sparx gazing down at him with a worried expression. “Also,” Spyro began again, “I didn’t ‘scream’, I yelled. I just got startled is all. I’m fine.”

Sparx’s expression shifted into an exasperated one before he said, “sometimes I wonder how you can just take a nosedive like that and get right back up, like it didn’t even happen.”

Spyro chuckled and he popped his shoulders and flexed his wings, then said, “well, what can I say? I’m resilient.”

Sparx stared at him for a good couple of seconds before saying, “I kid you not, I literally thought you were gonna say, ‘cause I’m cool like that’.”

Spyro laughed at that and said playfully, “sorry to disappoint you. Now…”

Spyro clumsily climbed over the pile of dirt and clay, then looked up at the fresh gap traversing his pathway. How was he going to get up their now? Sparx seemed to know exactly what his brother was thinking, because right then he said, “what's the matter, little Spyro? can’t fly?” Sparx crossed his arms and smiled as he continued. “Ahh, that's right you walk everywhere. Mmm, that's too bad.”

“Your toast when I catch you!” Spyro challenged. He made his way back up the ramp and stopped when he reached the gap. Closely examining it, he decided that if he did it right, he could glide across. Its distance wasn’t terribly far, though the bigger issue was that the other end was at a higher elevation than his current position.

Spyro backed up a couple of feet, then crouched down into a hunting stance. He wiggled his haunches, readying for the pounce, though in this case, it was a leap. Spyro jolted forward, stretching out his wings to slice through the air at his sides, then he launched off the end of the ramp with all his strength, gliding up, up, up… until he did a full circle through the air and began his descent.

Spyro landed just on the edge of the cliff, his hind legs knocking away more rock, but he quickly got them back onto solid ground as he scampered forward. He looked behind him, back at the gap he’d just crossed first try, and smiled. He was quite clearly pleased with himself.

Back to the task at hand… catching Sparx. Spyro turned his attention back to the bend in the elevated pathway that led deeper into this section of the grove. He carried on at a trot. 

He soon came to a small clearing where he was caught off guard by Sparx flying right past his snout. He quickly reached out with his paws to grasp the dragonfly, but he missed and stumbled, falling onto the ground. He quickly picked himself back up and sharply exhaled through his nose in irritation.

Sparx smiled at Spyro as he flew backward and said, “aaah, must be tough to lose all the time Spy- ah!”

Sparx was cut off by a small creature emerging from the moist ground and attacking him with its long tongue. The creature ate Sparx like a frog, and it even croaked like a frog, though it was half the size of Spyro, and it kinda looked like one of though tall cup flowers. With a head like an overlaying pedal and slimy green skin. Its feet resembled tree roots, and at the base of its head, where its neck should have been, there were four claw-like appendages, two on each side.

“Alright, let me outta here, you overgrown fungus!” Sparx’s muffled shout came from within the creature. “Spyro, seriously, lend me a hand here, will ya brother?”

With a smirk, Spyro said, “Geez, Sparx, I dunno. Frogweed’s gotta eat too.”

“Spyro, whack it! Do something. _please!_ I’m your buddy.” Sparx’s muffled cries sounded nervously.

“Alright alright, calm down…” Spyro said rolling his eyes. “I’ll have you outta there in no time.”

Spyro assumed his hunting stance, legs and wings pressed close to him. He wiggled his haunches, then charged forward, his horn poised to strike. He slammed right into the frogweed’s stomach and sent it flying across the clearing, and as it smashed into a wall of twisting roots, it regurgitated the yellow insect and dropped on the ground, unconscious with its tongue laying limp in the mud.

Sparx was launched through the air and slammed right into Spyro’s bright yellow chest, green ooze making him stick for a few seconds before peeling off and landing on the ground with a moan.

“Thanks, bro…” Sparx said dazedly. He looked at himself in disgust, trying to wipe off the slime. “Ugghhh… now I smell almost as bad as you do…”

Not sure how to respond to that, Spyro simply watched in silence as Sparx got off the ground and started hovering in front of him. Then, Sparx smiled and said, “Oooh, and that's pretty bad. See ya later sucker!” he quickly darted away and squeezed through the empty spaces between the roots creating the barrier that the frogweed had slammed into moments prior.

“So much for gratitude.” Spyro said to himself, though Sparx had apparently heard him, cause he shouted back, “I said thanks!”

Spyro smiled and rolled his eyes, then trotted up to the wall of dark brown roots. Apparently, the frogweed had woken up, cause it was gone now. He studied the roots closely, trying to see to the other side, but he couldn’t make anything out.

“I don’t remember this being here…” he mumbled to himself, remembering all the times he and Sparx had passed through this way. He didn’t seem to give it much thought beyond that though, cause he backed up, then slammed his horns into the roots, smashing them into splinters. He swung his horns over and over again, breaking the roots more and more, then he finally stopped to take a breather. The incessant swinging of his head made him dizzy though, and he stumbled back a step or two.

When his head cleared and he could see straight again, he took one look at the barrier and smirked. It was decimated, though a pathway had not quite emerged. Spyro crouched down, readying himself for a charge… and blasted right through the remaining roots. However, as he smashed through the barrier, he tripped and fell forward. Thanks to the slanted muddy ground on the other side, Spyro quickly and easily slid through the revealed clearing and collided with the brush at the other end. Before Spyro realized what was happening, the ground disappeared from beneath him. Once he noticed he was falling, he tried to pull out his wings, but it was too late. Spyro slammed into a pool of muddy soil before he had the chance to react.

Spyro coughed up mud as he dragged his head out of the incredibly murky water. It was almost like quicksand, though it wasn’t deep enough to be dangerous. Spyro dragged his paws out of the mud to wipe away the soot in his eyes, but it only made it worse, so instead, he used the wrists of his wings, which hadn't gotten as much mud on them, careful not to let the yellow claws on his wings stab him.

Spyro craned his neck to look at the cliff he’d just fallen off of. Apparently, that brush was growing on the very edge of the cliff, and Spyro went right through it. Huffing deeply, Spyro dragged himself through the pool of mud and over to the more shallow end. With painstaking difficulty, Spyro climbed out of the mud with a sucking sound as he pulled his hindquarters out. He would have shaken himself if he weren’t so sore. A pool of thick mud isn’t exactly what you want to have break your fall.

Spyro stretched with a wince, popping nearly every joint in his body. Finally, he shook himself, flinging the mud off in every direction.

Spyro stretched out his whole body like a cat one more time before setting off at a trot. It didn’t take him too long before he started hearing laughter. Curious, Spyro made his way towards the direction of the sound. He soon came to a clearing with a group of dragonfly children talking to each other. He couldn’t quite hear what it was they were saying, so he quietly walked forward.

The exact moment Spyro came out of the cover of the undergrowth at the edge of the clearing, all of the kids stopped their conversation and looked at him. Spyro stopped walking, feeling a little nervous from their stares. They looked uneasy.

“Hey, guys…” Spyro said weakly, starting to walk forward slowly again.

The dragonflies backed up a little, but Spyro continued to approach slowly.

“What uh… whatcha do'n?” Spyro asked, finally coming to a stop a few feet away from the other kids.

The dragonflies shifted and seemed to try not to make eye contact. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, one of the dragonflies nudged their friend, and they nervously looked at Spyro. He knew the girl, her name was Charlotte. She had a red glow, similar to his mom’s, but a little more glittery and bright. His mom had a more cherry colored glow.

Spyro gave Charlotte a small smile, trying to make her feel comfortable around him. Seemed like it worked, cause then she said, “Hey, Spyro…”

Spyro had been expecting her to say more, but when she didn’t continue for a few moments, he decided to say, “Hey Charlotte. What you guys up to?”

At the sound of her name, Charlotte seemed to shy away. Spyro knew she wasn’t a particularly talkative person in general, but she wasn’t usually _this_ shy. Then again… he wasn’t exactly a stranger to having other kids his age shying away from _him_ in particular.

“You… you know my name…” Charlotte said nervously. Spyro wasn’t sure if it was a statement or a question… it could have been either, with the way she said it.

So, unsure as to how he should respond, Spyro smiled, revealing his gleaming white sharp teeth, and said, “of course…” though he forgot what he was going to say after that when he noticed all of the dragonflies back away from him. Instantly, Spyro closed his lips to hide his teeth and looked at the ground anxiously. He kept his head down, but looked up, pleading with his gleaming purple eyes, like a dog begging for attention.

After a moment of awkward silence, a green dragonfly came forward a little and said hesitantly, “look… Spyro.” the dragonfly swallowed audibly, clearly unsettled by the purple predator in front of him. “We don't… feel comfortable around you.” the green dragonfly said with a wince, as though expecting Spyro to literally bite off his head for saying such a thing.

Eliot. That was the dragonflies name, Spyro recalled. He seemed to be a favorite amongst the children in the grove. He was smart, jovial, funny, and from what Spyro had heard, he was great at being responsible and at taking charge. He was an excellent leader. Spyro actually admired him a little.

“It's just…” Eliot continued, looking away for a moment before saying, “you’re kind of…”

“Scary?” Spyro asked.

Eliot looked at Spyro again, but didn’t say anything.

Spyro nodded and said, “that's… that's fine. I understand.” he turned to leave, but then said over his shoulder, “I mean… who _would_ want to hang out with me? I’m deadly.” at that, Spyro held up a paw and flexed his claws in introspection. “I wouldn’t want to be around me either.”

So with that, Spyro turned and left, his head down, and his tail and wings dragging along the ground behind him. The dragonflies didn’t even try to stop him.


	6. Riverside thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what is up with these fast updates? I'm on a roll! unfortunately, I don't think it will last long. just a forewarning. anyway, enjoy!

“Spyro! Spyro, where are you?” Sparx shouted as he flew through the swamp. He had been looking for Spyro for the past half hour, but he was pretty sure he knew where he’d gone.

A while ago, Sparx had come across a group of kids his age, and when he asked them if they’d seen Spyro, cause he was wondering where his brother had gone in the middle of their game, they seemed a little on edge. Something Sparx was used to whenever he talked about his brother to other kids. Turns out, Spyro had actually wanted to hang out with them. Sparx had wanted to say so many things to those kids, but… while he felt they were being unfair to his brother, he also understood their dispositions. Also, he knew that yelling at them, or even just reprimanding or complaining, wouldn’t change their opinions.

Sparx felt bad for his brother. This was the kind of stuff that made Sparx feel the need to embrace Spyro’s differences, and why he decided to start following Spyro out on his hunts. He didn’t want to be like the other kids in the grove. Selfish, and insensitive. That's what Sparx thought of them.

Just then, Sparx heard the trickling sound of running water. The sound of a gentle river. The Silver River, to be exact. Sparx knew his brother well enough to know that this was the place Spyro usually went whenever he was feeling down. The sound of the river, it’s golden glow in the day, it’s _silver_ glow at night… seeing his reflection in the water… Spyro found solace here, and Sparx could understand why. It was perhaps the most tranquil place in the Dragonfly Grove.

Sparx broke out of the dense swamp growth and found himself on the white sandy shore of the Silver River. The river itself was curvy, and hardly ever went straight. In fact, thanks to the silver river, the Dragonfly Grove was surrounded by water on every side, except the part with the snake skeleton tunnel leading to the rest of the Mushroom Swamp. The Silver River wound around it _like_ a snake. That was part of what made the grove so safe, since the Silver River was rather broad and deep.

If Spyro knew how to swim, he’d probably have already tried to get across and into the swamp, but as it is, the only way for him to go out exploring, was through the snake tunnel.

Sparx quickly scanned the riverbank, searching for his brother. He didn’t have to look for long.

Spyro was resting at the very edge of the river looking deeply into his reflection. He seemed perfectly content in being left alone. But Sparx knew that what Spyro wanted and what he needed were two different things, so he flew over to his brother and tried to act casual.

“Sup, bro.” and immediately after say it, he felt stupid.

“Oh, nothing much…” Spyro said after a short sigh. “Just a ‘dangerous predator’ laying here at the edge of a river. Better be careful, I might lunge at any moment…” Spyro said sarcastically.

Sparx didn’t know what to say. Spyro was a very difficult person to comfort. “Or maybe…” Sparx thought to himself, “I can’t fully understand what it’s like to be him, because I’m not him. There's no way for me to help him because he needs someone who can understand what it’s like. To be left out… to be seen as a monster… maybe I just don’t know how to help him.”

“I can’t really blame them, ya know…” Spyro continued in a melancholy tone. “I am a predator. That much is obvious.” he said as he looked at his teeth in the river’s reflection. “And I guess I’m kinda scary looking… I’m a lot bigger than you guys. A lot stronger, more durable, more… dangerous.”

“You're not dangerous.” Sparx said gazing into the river himself, finding it to be very soothing. “Sure your strong and fast, but that doesn’t make you a menace…”

“Maybe…” Spyro interjected, “but it doesn’t mean I’m not a predator either, or that I’m not scary. And I _am_ dangerous. My teeth and claws alone are proof of that.”

Sparx was silent for a moment, then, with a glance at his brother, he said, “you know what I meant. You aren't malicious, and you don’t kill for the fun of it. You just eat meat. There's nothing wrong with that, it just means you have a different palate. You can’t help it, it's just your genetics.”

Spyro and Sparx simply stayed there, looking into the river for what seemed like an eternity, but Spyro eventually broke the silence by saying, “ya know… a few days ago, you would have never talked to me this openly about the subject of my diet, but…” Spyro paused, as though trying to decide what to say next. He looked down at his paws with a breathy chuckle then said, “I don’t know… I guess I’m just surprised at how fast your demeanor is changing.”

Sparx studied Spyro out of the corner of his eye for a moment before saying, “I guess I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Take it however you want.” Spyro said, tone unreadable. “I’m not sure if I know what to think anymore.”

Sparx was speechless. That one sentence… that was the rawest, most open statement, he’d ever heard from his cocky brother. “I’m not sure if I know what to think anymore…”. He’d never heard Spyro say anything even _remotely_ like that before. Spyro wasn’t one to admit defeat, physically mentally _or_ emotionally. To hear him say something that contrasted with his upbeat, confident demeanor so greatly… Sparx began wondering just how well he really knew his brother. Began wondering if the Spyro he knew was just a mask, and the real Spyro was hidden away somewhere inside his subconscious.

Sparx was brought out of this deep existential quandary when Spyro suddenly said, “I can’t wait for the day I’ll get to leave this stupid grove. Once I do, I ain’t look’n back!” Spyro said this as he looked out to the treeline at the other side of the Silver River.

Sparx looked at Spyro with a worried expression, and his brother noticed, then said, “of course, I’d totally let you come with me… if you wanted… ya know…”

Sparx smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes, and said, “I don’t think mom and dad would let me do that.”

Spyro looked back towards the river, as though looking for advice from some kind of almighty river spirit. He and his brother didn’t say anything for the longest time, both of them trying to decide what to say.

“Don’t listen to them.” Sparx said, breaking the peaceful, but awkward silence. “Those other kids are just being ignorant.”

“That's easy for you to say.” Spyro said with a chuckle. “Sometimes I think it would just be easier to be exactly what everyone sees me as. A monster.”

“You're _not_ a monster.” Sparx said. Spyro looked at him, surprise and gratitude shining in his eyes. “Your an awesome dude. Don’t let other people’s opinions change the way you see yourself.”

“Thanks, Sparx.” Spyro said genuinely.

Sparx lightly punched Spyro shoulder playfully, and Spyro lifted his wing in response. Sparx high fived the wrist of Spyro’s wing and they both laughed lightly. The moment didn’t last long though, because right then, they heard rustling in the undergrowth behind them. They turned around just in time to see a giant spider burst through the canopy! It looked like a giant mushroom, but they weren’t able to take in any other details as it darted straight for Spyro.

Spyro fell backward, the spider landing right on top of him as he splashed into shallows of the Silver River. Sparx was stunned speechless and didn't know what to do as Spyro snarled, thrashing around with the spider, trying to keep its mandibles from sinking into his neck, mere inches away. The creature was larger than him, though not by much.

Sparx looked around frantically, trying to find something he could use against the spider or to just help Spyro in any way. The only thing he saw was a large rock. Not very useful, but it was the only thing he could think of, so he quickly flew over to it and tried to lift it.

Spyro was still struggling with the monster on top of him as Sparx tapped into his magic to enhance his strength enough for him to lift the rock. He flashed brightly with yellow energy as he dragged the rock into the air and spun in a circle. Sparx let go of the rock and it slammed right into the joint of one of its six legs.

Wait… six legs? Spiders have eight…

When the rock made contact with the “spider’s” leg, it fell out from under the creature, unbalancing it enough that Spyro was able to move his hind legs beneath it and launch it back with one powerful thrust. The monster slammed into the base of a tree and landed on the ground motionless for a moment. Spyro was able to get to his paws and enter a fighting stance just as the “spider” also regained its composure.

Before the “spider” had the chance to lunge again, Spyro leapt at it, which was apparently a big surprise for it, since it didn’t make any moves to attack, flee, or even brace itself for the assault.

Spyro landed on its head, scratching at its face with his sharp claws, and scarlet blood dripped from the fresh wounds. The “spider” screeched in agony and backed up, swinging its head so violently that it was all Spyro could do to hold on. He dug his claws deeply into the monsters face to keep from slipping, which only made it freak out more.

The monster jolted around the sandbank in random directions, desperately trying to get Spyro off of its face.

“That’s it Spyro! Give it to him! Show him who's boss!” Sparx shouted from the sidelines, his fist in the air and wearing an intense expression.

The monster tripped backward as its legs fell into the shallows of the Silver River and Spyro was yanked from its head, spouts of blood staining the white sandbank.

Spyro once again fell on his back, but this time he was further into the river, though still in the shallows. Thankfully, he noticed the “spider” prepare to launch itself at him, and he braced himself. As the monster fell on top of him, Spyro thrust out his back legs again, though this time, he angled it so that the monster would be thrown farther into the river, and it worked. Spyro quickly flipped himself over and onto his paws, the golden water showering around him, just it time to see the monster splash into the deeper part of the river. It didn’t resurface.

“Yeah! You just got schooled, punk!” Spyro shouted, a giant grin on his face.

Sparx flew over and said, “I guess you could say he… took a dive!” he looked at Spyro as though expecting him to laugh, but then noticed Spyro raise a brow. “Sorry, I’ll… just forget I said that.”

“With pleasure.” Spyro said with a grin.

“And look!” Sparx continued. “There's not even a scratch on you!”

“I know right? That… that was awesome!” Spyro shouted elatedly. “Now this… _this_ is what I need. Excitement!”

Spyro looked to his brother who chuckled a little and said, “let's not get too carried away now… this was probably just a one-time thing. In fact…” Sparx’s expression seemed to become more contemplative as he continued. “I’m not sure why, or how, that thing got here. The heart crystal is supposed to shroud the grove so that monsters like that will pass right by. Why did that guy pass right through the barrier?”

“Who cares how a bulb spider got into the grove?” Spyro asked nonchalantly. “I took care of it.”

“Wait…” Sparx started. “A bulb spider?”

“Yeah, don’t you remember mom and dad telling us about them?” Spyro asked his brother, though Sparx simply shrugged his shoulders. “I guess they just told me. For some reason, they think that telling me about all the monsters in the swamp will make me not want to leave, but the jokes on them! It just makes me want to go adventuring even more!”

Sparx smiled nervously, then asked, “how do you know that was a bulb spider? It didn’t even have eight legs, or a stinger for that matter.”

“Well, mom and dad said that they're not technically spiders, their just _called_ bulb spiders because they look so similar.” Spyro began. “They only have six legs, they don’t have stingers, and they can’t make webs. They look like large mushrooms so they can blend in with the swamp terrain. When something gets close enough, they lunge.”

Sparx nodded his head in understanding and Spyro continued, looking out to where the bulb spider had disappeared beneath the water, and said, “but it looks like this guy picked the wrong person to hunt!” he smiled brightly, clearly satisfied with his success.

Sparx fiddled with his fingers nervously before saying, “Spyro, maybe we should head back to the village-”

“Great idea Sparx!” Spyro interjected before Sparx could finish his statement. “We can go tell dad about my awesomeness. Oh, by the way, thanks for the help.”

Sparx smiled at his brother and said, “no problem. Though… I was going to say that I was getting worried about the guys back at home.”

“Why?” Spyro asked matter-of-factly.

“I’m just…” Sparx began uneasily. “thinking, what if that spider wasn’t the only one that got through the grove’s defenses?”

“You worry too much.” Spyro said calmly as he began trotting in the direction of home. “I’m sure everything’s fine. I took care of the danger already, so just relax.”

Sparx tried to take his brother’s advice, but found that he couldn’t for some reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ps- I just imagine "shake it off" playing in the background of Spyro's fight. don't know why.


	7. spiders!!!

Everything was quite as Spyro and Sparx made their way back home at a brisk, but moderate pace. Despite initially feeling content, Spyro had steadily become worried, thanks to Sparx’s own concern. Spyro kept sneaking unsettled glances at his brother, though Sparx didn’t seem to notice at all. He was unsure as to whether his brother’s anxiety was justified, but he felt like if it even were, it didn’t do him any good to burden himself with paranoia and grim thoughts. Regardless, Spyro kept his thoughts to himself… for once.

They were currently passing through a narrow trail, of which Spyro had created after years of taking it. The ground was nothing but mud and oily water, thanks to how frequently it was trodden over, preventing anything from really growing. On either side of them, there was a small ledge separating the trail from the dense undergrowth and mushrooms of the swamp. One of the reasons why the path had been created was so Spyro could pass through this far more densely packed part of the grove.

There was no noise, apart from the squelching, squishing sounds of Spyro’s paws padding over the boggy earth, and Sparx’s buzzing wing beats that were as frantic as he was. It was as if the insects that were usually so chatty in the swamp, were also feeling anxious, because they were oddly quite.

Then suddenly, they heard something. 

Both of them froze, scanning the dense undergrowth in search of whatever had made that… rustling sound. They heard it again, from the left. Spyro and Sparx jolted their heads in the direction of the sound and were greeted by the sight of shuffling plant-life. Something was definitely behind their.

Then, they heard a noise from behind them, and Spyro sung around just in time to see a giant bulb spider launch out at him from the mushrooms it had easily blended in with.

Caught off guard, Spyro was unaware that the bulb spider behind him found this to be the perfect opportunity to attack. Before the spider Spyro had directed his attention towards had even reached him, the one from behind landed right on top of him and pinned him down.

Spyro had the wind knocked out of him as his face was slammed into the mud. Thankfully for him though, the spider that had launched at him rammed right into the one restraining him. The two creatures fell away and were locked into a gnarly battle.

Spyro picked himself up, taking heavy breaths as he tried to regain his composure.

“That happened so fast…” Sparx said in a daze, a hand on his forehead.

“Yeah, well I don’t know about you,” Spyro said with a huff, “but I don’t want to stick around to find out which one of them wins.”

At that, Spyro turned and ran, and his brother followed suit shortly after. “I’m with ya their bud.” Sparx said as he tried to keep up with a sprinting Spyro. “I knew something was off!” he said but a moment later.

“Yeah, well,” Spyro was barely able to say as he bolted through the swamp. “Ya want an award or something? We gotta get back home… they might be in danger.”

Sparx didn’t need Spyro to specify who it was he was talking about to know he meant the dragonflies in the village. And their family.

* * *

Spyro skidded to a halt as he and Sparx entered the village to find a horrifying sight; bulb spiders were everywhere. Dragonflies were running away in fear, trying to get to the safety of their homes. Some were already in their homes, but were cowering in terror from the spiders trying to rip apart the small clay and stick buildings. The structures weren’t the most durable, in fact, their were a few that had already been torn to shreds by the invading monsters.

Without a second thought, Spyro jumped into the fray. He launched himself at the closest spider, one that was actively trying to get its clawed spindly legs into the door of a small hut to rip it open.

With a furious roar that both baffled and astonished, not only the dragonflies, but the spiders as well, Spyro landed atop the back of the bulb spider and dug his razor sharp claws into its mushroom colored hide.

The spider reeled back and shrieked in pain, the dragonflies completely forgotten in its fear and surprise. It tried to grasp Spyro with its long legs, but he was out of its reach. Then, Spyro clamped his jaws around the top of its head, biting hard.

The spider squealed once again, though it didn’t last long. From the spiders violent bucking, Spyro’s claws were yanked free, but he held on tight with his mouth, being flung around through the air as he tightened his jaws around the monsters head. That's when it happened. There was a cracking sound, and the spider’s cries were cut off, and it fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Its skull had cracked, and the shards stabbed and sliced its brain along with Spyro’s teeth.

Blood was flowing from the spider’s head as Spyro finally released his grip, his mouth filled with the same scarlet liquid. He slowly got to his feet and looked toward the rest of the village. Everyone, including the bulb spiders, were staring at him. A mixture of awe and terror on the dragonflies faces.

Spyro stalked forward, trying to look as intimidating as possible, and it seemed to work, because the spiders didn’t move. They simply watched as he got closer and closer. Then… he lunged.

Spyro soared through the air with his wings outstretched, aiming for the closest enemy, but the bulb spider had seen it coming. It reared up onto its back two legs, drawing itself up higher, and Spyro was met with the claws of its two front most legs as they stabbed his outstretched paws.

The spider came down, and Spyro’s forepaws were pinned beneath its legs. He cried out in pain as it shifted the weight of its giant body onto the dull claws baring into the more vulnerable flesh of his paw pads. Blood began slowly trickling from the wounds.

Spyro tried to move his hind legs beneath the monster so he could launch it away, like he had done before, back at the silver river, but it saw the maneuver and stabbed its back two legs on top of Spyro’s hind legs before he could get them under the beast. Since it wasn’t his paw pads, his back paws didn’t start bleeding, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Spyro sucked in a breath and moaned at the added pain, but otherwise dealt with it, despite the bones in his back paws threatening to shatter from the pressure.

The Spider lowered its head and a long red tongue slithered out and lapped up the blood flowing from Spyro’s paws. It made Spyro gag, but he clawed past his disgust long enough to try and bite the spider’s tongue, but he couldn’t reach. That's when he realized that the other spiders had crowded around him.

The spiders made a grotesque clicking, chirping sound as they seemed to smell Spyro’s anger and pain, mandibles chattering violently, almost seeming bewildered as to why they smelt no fear on him. He cringed and growled as they lowered their faces toward his own, and he struggled violently under the weight of the claws on top of him, but it only made the creature dig deeper into his flesh, threatening to break the bones of his back paws and spear right through his front paws.

Spyro could hear voices saying something beyond him, perhaps calling his name, but he couldn’t concentrate on anything but the piercing pain of his paws. He grit his teeth as he suddenly felt one of the spiders bite down on his tail with its mandibles. He ripped his tail out of its grasp, the pain still nowhere near as bad as what he was already experiencing, and the dull yellow spearhead of his tail tip slammed into the spiders face and it chittered angrily. That gave Spyro an idea. He suddenly remembered the two spiders that had tried to rip each other apart when he and Sparx were running home.

Spyro craned his head to look behind him, and was greeted by the legs of another bulb spider mere inches away from his face. It was the most welcome sight he’d ever seen.

Spyro grabbed one of the spider’s legs in between his jaws and yanked it forward. The spider rammed into the one on top of him, and the two monsters instantly began attacking each other in their outrage.

Spyro felt the weight disappear from his forepaws as the spider atop him used its front legs to defend itself. Instantly, Spyro swung his claws out at the underside of the bulb spider, and blood from both him and the spider sprayed the moist, muddy ground. It screeched in pain, and the other spider gained the upper hand. It sank its sharp mandibles into the first one’s face. It tossed its head from side to side, and the spider still restraining Spyro’s back paws fell onto its side as blood poured from the sides of its head.

Instantly, Spyro was up on his bloody throbbing paws, ignoring the agony striking through them and all the way up his legs to his shoulders and hindquarters. He bit down as he took in the picture of the two spiders killing each other. The one that had been on top of him moments prior was now barely moving as the other one dragged its fang out of its head, blood dripping.

With hardly another thought, Spyro spun in a circle, and with his tail, knocked one of the spiders legs out from under it, causing it to fall over. He didn’t even hesitate to leap into the air, despite the protesting spasms in his paws, and somersaulted through the air, bringing his blunt tail tip down on the creature once more, and slamming it into the top of its head, causing it to fall over yet again.

Spyro landed with a grunt of pain and seemed to fall in on himself, barely able to handle the pain as crimson blood came flowing freely from his front paws.

But then, he heard the dragonflies… cheering him on! He looked up to see the dragonflies gather together watching the fight in awe and anticipation. The sight made Spyro pause for a moment, the perfect picture of confusion. Then he smiled.

Turning back towards the rest of the remaining spiders with a cocky grin, Spyro had renewed confidence. It didn’t matter if he was injured. He would protect the grove with his life.

The spider Spyro had just attacked finally got to its spindly feet again, clicking angrily. Quickly, Spyro took note of how many were left. Seven, from his count. He lowered the front part of his body, entering his usual attack stance, and readied himself. He set his eyes on the closest one and wiggled his haunches, then leapt. Then changed direction by flapping his wings!

With a single beat of his wings, Spyro sent himself hurtling towards an unsuspecting spider. He swung out his bloodied claws and gouged the monsters face. It screeched and fell back. Spyro landed his back paws on the monsters face and used it as a launchpad as he leapt to the right and smashed his blunt yellow horns into the side of another spiders face with enough pressure and force that blood came spitting out. Almost instantly, Spyro let his horns act as a pivot point as his hindquarters went in front, and he slid on his back through the moist ground. He quickly raised his back paws and let them claw through the underside of another spider, and as he emerged on its opposite flank, he quickly spun around to get back on his feet, and in the process, his tail knocked the spiders leg out from under it.

“Yeah, go Spyro!”

Spyro didn’t look to see who had said it, but it helped him to ignore the throbbing pain in his paws as he leaped onto the spiders back and dug his claws deep. The spider roared in pain as it staggered to its feet.

Spyro violently shifted his claws so the spider would lurch over, and it rammed into two other spiders. Spyro launched off of the spiders back, raking his claws through its back as he flipped through the air. Spyro landed not too far away, once again in his right fighting pose.

The spiders clicked and chittered, but this time it seemed to be in fear, because they started backing away. Spyro roared loud and intimidating, and the spiders turned tail and ran, but not in the right direction. They were fleeing to Spyro’s hunting grounds, so he bolted, and with some help from his hind legs and wings, landed right in their path. They immediately changed course, and Spyro herded them towards the snake skull tunnel that lead out of the grove. Without hesitation, they all scurried through the gaping mouth of the giant snake skull.

“Yeah! And don't ever think about showing your fungi faces around here again!” Spyro shouted after them, standing tall and straight, chest puffed out, head held high, wings outstretched, and tail wagging furiously back and forth.

“Yep! That's my brother!” Sparx said as he darted over to Spyro’s side, and the two of them smirked at each other. Then they turned around and were greeted by faces both astonished and awe struck, and filled with gratitude and admiration. Some dragonflies still seemed to be processing what had just happened. Before they knew it, Spyro and Sparx, though mostly Spyro, were swarmed by the grateful dragonflies.

“Awsome!”

“Great work their Spyro!”

“Jolly good show!”

“Can you teach me how to do that?”

Spyro could barely hear what they were saying because they were all talking at once, but he loved it. His smirk was dripping with pompousness as he said, “Well, there's only one Spyro. It's good to have goals, but try not to shoot too high.”

“Spyro!”

Instantly, Spyro looked over to the voice that had called his name, and he saw Nina flying over to him. Within seconds, she reached him, and instantly picked up his right paw, making him wince, as that despite no longer freely bleeding, his paws were still very much in pain. Over time, he’d found that his wounds healed far quicker than most other creatures. And that includes the formation of scabs. His paws were stiff and aching, but his mom slowly force his claws to open so she could more closely examine his injuries.

“I’m fine mom” Spyro said, a little embarrassment showing in his expressions and voice.

“Yeah, you’d like to think that.” Nina said, but Spyro wasn’t able to give a rebuttal before she spoke again. “Come on. I can heal you with the heart crystal.” and with that, she gingerly lead Spyro by the paw to the village’s center, where the large glowing purple heart crystal was awaiting. He reluctantly followed her, and soon his mom was pressing both his front paws against the cool smooth surface of the crystal. Spyro sucked in a breath as he felt a stinging sensation flow through his blood crusted paws.

“Nice job Spyro.”

Spyro turned his head to find his dad hovering not too far away. And he was smiling at him. Spyro smiled in return, but it wasn't the usual cocky grin he gave people. This time it was a genuine soft smile filled with pride and gratitude.

“I just wish you had been more careful,” Nina said, drawing Spyro and Flash’s attention back to her while she was using her own magic to help with the healing. “You could have gotten seriously hurt. Really, what were you thinking, just running in like that. You need to learn self control.”

“Well i saved the village, didn’t I?” Spyro said with his usual smirk as his mother looked at him with an amused expression. “Yes, yes. Good on ya. Now can we get back to the healing? I’m almost done with the hard part.”

So with that, everyone simply waited the few seconds it took for Nina to full stitch up the skin, muscle, and veins in both of Spyro’s paws. Then, Nina went over to examine his back paws. That's when Flash caught Spyro off guard by clapping him on the shoulder. For a split second, he simply looked at his dad in vague surprise, then his expression softened into another warm smile, and he nudged his dad with his shoulder playfully.

Thankfully,” Nina said, drawing everyone's attention. “Your back paws seem alright. But I want you to rest next to the heart crystal for the rest of the day.”

“Mom!” spyro pleaded.

“No. this is what happens when you aren’t responsible.”

Spyro huffed grumpily, but his dad said, “well I think you did good today.” and at that, Spyro beamed.

“I never said he didn’t.” Nina said as she hovered over to her husband. She turned her head to look at Spyro once more as she said, “you just need to learn how to be more careful. I don’t know what I'd do if something happened to you.”

“I’m fine mom.” Spyro insisted. “Look, see?” he said as he stood straight up, wings displayed, and smile broad.

Nina seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying, “Alright. But I still want you to stay by the heart crystal for now.”

Spyro looked like he was about to object again, but Sparx interrupted with, “no prob. I’m sure I’m not the only one here willing to give Spyro some company.” and with a smile, he looked over a shoulder at the crowd still lingering, and they seemed to remember why they were still their as they sparked with anticipation. “I’m sure my brother here would be willing to divulge more stories of his awesomeness.”

Nina and Flash snickered as they watched Spyro give the crowd his signature grin. “We’ll leave you to it.” Flash said as he and Nina made their way back to the house.

So, Spyro regaled the dragonflies with stories, mostly of saving Sparx from danger, all through the night. He didn’t even realize how long it had been until the dragonflies started leaving to go to sleep. After that, Spyro and Sparx gladly slept right next to the heart crystal, its purple glow reflecting off of Spyro’s scales like he were a gemstone.


	8. Phantom Wound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy crap!!! I'm not dead!
> 
> sorry it took so long for me to post the next chapter, I've just had a lot of stuff going on and I'm still having to deal with some things, but I figured it was about time I probably posted another chapter. Hope you enjoy!

There was a low thrumming sound, accompanied by a warm pulsing sensation. Spyro would have opened his eyes, if it weren’t so comforting. It made him feel cozy and safe. Then he heard Sparx’s snoring.

Reluctantly, Spyro lifted an eyelid, and was greeted by the sight of the village bathed in twilight. He lifted his head slowly, then yawned widely. Then, turning his head, he nudged Sparx, who was asleep on his back, with his muzzle.

“Sparx. Sparx, wake up.” Spyro said gentilly.

“Hu…?”

Sparx lifted himself off his brothers back and stretched his arms out as he hovered a foot or two away, his translucent wings buzzing rapidly. Spyro looked behind him to see the heart crystal pulsing with purple light, apparently the source of that warm beating that made him feel peaceful, and only just realized that he wasn’t in his usual bed atop the house. Then he remembered the events of yesterday, and suddenly he was starting to feel a lot more awake.

“What’s up with the pleasant wake up call?” Sparx said, attracting Spyro’s attention again. “Don’t you usually scare me half to death to get me awake?”

Spyro smiled lazily and said, “oh, come on. That’s not fair, you’re scared of everything.”

Sparx glared at him and said, “There's a fine lie between being afraid, and being cautious.”

“Sure there is.” Spyro said as he picked himself off the ground and stretched out his body like a cat. “You just happen to fall on one particular side of that line very often, and that would be the fearful side.”

Sparx simply blinked at him, as though unsure as to what, exactly, Spyro had just said. His brother chuckled at him and proceeded to crack his neck.

Then suddenly, Spyro winced at a sudden pain in his front paws. It felt like they were being crushed by that spider all over again. He examined his paws closely, but didn’t find any source of injury. Not even a bruise or scar.

“You alright their buddy?” Sparx asked, arms crossed and curiosity, and perhaps concern, shown on his still groggy face.

“Yeah, I'm…” Spyro said in an unsure tone, still inspecting the perfectly health, unmarred flesh of his sore paw pads. “I’m fine, I just… don't know.”

Sparx looked at him sceptically. “You sure about that?”

Spyro sighed and looked at his brother again, as he said, “my paws just hurt real bad. Like I’m still being stabbed by that spider.”

“Sounds strange.” Sparx said thoughtfully.

“Well, I guess you guys wouldn’t know.” came a familiar feminin voice. Spyro and Sparx looked to their right to see their mother, Nina, approach. As she neared, she said, “It's called a phantom wound. Or phantom pain, if you prefer.”

Spyro and Sparx looked at each other in question, then looked back to their mother for further explanation.

“I was afraid of this.” Nina sighed. “Phantom wounds are… sort of a less severe spirit wound, and spirit wounds are only caused by powerful magic, and are difficult to treat. A phantom wound happens when you use an insufficient magic source to heal a severe wound. In particular, when the injury is very painful, or if you go too long without healing it.”

Spyro and Sparx nodded slowly in vague understanding.

“A phantom wound is just pain. A kind of ‘ghost’, if you will, of the initial injury. To my knowledge, there's no way to get rid of it, other than time. You just have to let it run its course. It’ll dissipate after a while.”

“How long is, ‘a while’?” Spyro asked.

Nina sighed again as she answered, “it depends. On how severe the injury was. How long it took for you to treat it.” she shrugged, then said, “it all just depends.”

“Ah…” Spyro said as he started thinking about something. “So wait… are you saying that the heart crystal… isn't strong enough to heal wounds like that? And why would we not know what a phantom wound was?”

“No, the heart crystal is more than perfect for healing wounds. Though it's not like you exactly nursed your wounds.” Nina replied. “After that spider got off of you, you continued attacking, and leaping. I can imagine that would have been very painful.”

“I guess.” Spyro said thoughtfully.

“And I say that you wouldn't know about phantom wounds because you’ve never had an injury that serious before, which is a shocker.”

“Yeah.” Sparx interjected. “My little bro here gets himself into danger all the time. I guess his incredible durability is kinda needed.”

“We’re the same age.” Spyro said indignantly with a sidelong glance at his brother.

“Semantics.” Sparx said with a wave of his hand.

“Well…” Nina said to her boys rather frankly. “I just came to check up on you and see how you guys were doing. Looks like you should take it easy, even if there's no actual risk of you hurting yourself further, but…”

Spyro looked up at his mother with pleading amethyst eyes as he realized what she was about to ask of him. Nina looked at him, and broke down. “Fine.” she said reluctantly. “You can go play, but just be careful. I don’t want to have to make a regular routine of healing your wounds and being worried.” After only a brief moment of hesitation, she added, “besides, phantom wounds will sometimes get worse if you ignore them at first.”

Spyro smiled broadly as he said, “thanks mom!” then scampered off, only to stop suddenly as he remembered that walking would be a little painful. Sparx chuckled as he followed after his brother, and Nina shook her head in exasperation as she turned to go back to the house.

As Sparx reach his brother, he said “ya alright their wuss?” a smile on his face.

Spyro glared up at Sparx and said, “how about I stab your hand and see how you like it?”

“Point taken.” Sparx said blandly.

“I just realized something.” Spyro said suddenly. Sparx looked at him expectantly.

“I didn’t eat anything yesterday.”

“Oh, well…” Sparx started. “Ya wanna go hunting?” he asked.

“Yeah, but are you sure you still wanna come?” Spyro asked. “Cause it's fine if you changed your mind.”

“No, no…” Sparx said. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Come on, let's go.”

Spyro looked on in surprise, as Sparx led the way to his hunting grounds, appearing strangely willing to go watch him hunt. It almost made Spyro feel a bit awkward, but he followed his brother anyway, too hungry to think about much else.

* * *

Unfortunately, it was slow going with the hunts. Spyro constantly found himself unable to keep up with his prey when the pain in his paws would not cease. If only could eat the Frogweeds. As it was, he’d already killed six of them, either to protect his brother, or because they were getting in the way of his hunts. Unfortunately, frogweeds are poisonous, Spyro knew from experience. He remembered the first time he went hunting, and he’d caught one of those bothersome creatures. The largest things the dragonflies every ate were butterflies, so they didn’t know, but it made him really sick. He’ll never forget the pan he’d had to endure for those three long days. Still worse than the phantom pains he was having right now.

At this particular moment, Spyro was hunched down in the foliage, staring down his prey; a brown squirrel. He’d decided to take a new approach, and was surprised when Sparx had agreed to it. His brother was on the opposite end of the clearing, and he was going to rustle the bushes to scare the small mammal right towards Spyro.

Right then, the bushes began shaking, and almost instantly, the squirrel bolted away from them, and right at Spyro. The purple reptile leapt out of his hiding place and sank his teeth into the creatures neck swiftly and flawlessly as he landed atop it. He took in a sharp breath as the pain of his paws hit him, but other than that he was fine. He looked up to see Sparx emerge from the bushes with an unreadable expression.

“Ya… ya got it?” Sparx said haltingly.

Spyro felt it an inopportune moment to show his gratitude to his brother, so he simply said, “yeah. You go on ahead. I’ll catch up.”

“Right… yeah, I’ll… I’ll do that.” his brother said uncertainty as he disappeared back through the brush.

Spyro smirked to himself, then began eating. He hadn’t realised just how hungry he was until he took his first bite. He began salivating, and before he knew it, he’d already devoured the small creature, bones and all. Spyro licked the blood from his lips, disappointment at such a small meal shining in his eyes.

Suddenly, a splashing sound caught his attention. He turned his head to the left and listened as closely as possible. He had learned from a young age that whatever he was had very good senses, especially hearing and smell. Like a snake, Spyro flicked his tongue three times to get a better scent. He had to fight to stay quiet at the surprise and anticipation he felt when he realised what kind of animal it was. It was a type of large bird called a heron. He hardly ever came across them, but they were his favorite. Not to mention, finding a heron usually meant there were fish nearby in a pond or lake.

Spyro thought of calling Sparx over, or simply waiting for him to return, but then decided against it. If Sparx were to scare it off, it would probably just fly away. Spyro wasn’t even sure if Sparx could scare off such a large animal. It would probably eat him, actually. Now that he thought of it, he could have sworn he’d heard something about herons snatching up dragonflies in the past.

Spyro’s attention was brought back to the bird hiding just behind the undergrowth as he heard it shift its weight in the water. He began slowly creeping forward, careful not to make a sound. His movements were much slower than normal, despite his aching hunger. When he finally reached the brush, he slowly poked his head through. He was greeted by the sight of a great blue heron, the largest kind, fishing in a small pond. It stood on one of its long skinny legs, staring intently down into the water, its long beak perfect for snatching fish out of the pond.

To the left, there was a river flowing into the pond. Likely one of the many branching streams that diverged from the silver river, he reasoned. On the right side of the pond, their was the gaping entrance to a cave, in which the water flowed. The cave intrigued him, but he focused his attention back on the bird. It was so still, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike its beak into the pond. Just as Spyro hunched over, preparing for the perfect moment to pounce.

Finally the bird struck, and at that exact moment, so too did Spyro leap from his hiding place. The bird, caught off guard, choked on the fish it was eating, and when it spat it out and spread its wings, Spyro was on top of it. He sank his teeth into the birds long neck as it let out a squawk of terror. Then it flopped over dead in the pond. Just the taste of its blood on his tongue was enough to make Spyro go crazy.

Before he could eat the heron, he had to defeather it, but he was so hungry. He decided to start by eating the fish that the bird had already killed. He devoured it in two bites, then started plucking off the feathers.

* * *

“Spyro?”

Spyro lifted his head in the direction off the familiar voice of his brother. Sparx was hovering towards him as he said, “where’d ya run off to? You were gone for…”

Just then, Sparx noticed the blood on his brothers lips, and the half eaten carcass of a large bid. He simply put a hand over his mouth to keep from losing his lunch. He looked away for a moment, trying to regain his composure. “Ah…” he said, pointing a finger at his brother without turning to look at him. “I… I see. You caught a…” Sparx glanced sidelong at his brother and noticed the blue feathers floating in the pond around him. “A Heron. Right?” he finished uncomfortably looking away once more.

“Yes…” Spyro responded carefully. “Maybe you should wait somewhere else while I finnish up here. I’m almost done.”

“Yeah, yeah… right.” Sparx said as his turned and hovered away.

Turning back to the carcass, Spyro quickly finished his meal, then, he called Sparx back over.

“All right, com'n.”

Spyro took a deep breath and collected himself. Then, he turned his head to look at the cave at the other end of the shallow pond. He was interested in it, mostly because he hadn’t recalled coming across it before. It was unfamiliar, new territory, and that excited him.

“So…” Sparx said, drawing Spyro’s attention again. “I imagine you’ve eaten well enough now?”

“Yeah…” Spyro said as he turned to look at the cave again.

“Great!” the dragonfly said, clapping his hands once. “Then maybe we should get back to the village? I’m sure we can hang out…” Sparx trailed off as he noticed his brother wasn't fully paying attention.

“First,” Spyro said. “I want to check something out.”

Sparx looked at the cave his brother had begun walking towards and felt a little apprehensive, but followed after anyway. They reached the entrance of the cave and stopped for a moment. The inside was very, very dark. Spyro looked to Sparx and gestured for him to light the way. His brother obliged with a sigh. One thing Spyro wished his kind had, whatever he was, was night vision. Now, his kind has very good scenes, but they can’t see in the dark, no matter how well adjusted their eyes can get. That meant Spyro usually had to rely on his dragonfly brother to lighten up what he couldn’t see.

They entered the cave slowly, but after a short time, Spyro found himself crawling out of the pond and onto dry land. At the back of the cave, all they could see were a few large stones littering a sandy floor. Other than that, the place was completely unnote worthy.

“Welp… ” Sparx said. “This place was a total bust. Why don’t we get outa here and head back to the village?”

Spyro looked disappointed as he said, “yeah, I guess you're right.” he started to turn around when suddenly, a glinting light caught his periferal. He looked again and noticed for the first time, some kind of metallic object reflecting Sparx’s light.

“Wait a sec.” Spyro said to his brother who halted and turned to see what had caught Spyro’s attention.

The two of them advanced further into the cave, and as they neared, they were able to make it out as some kind of bronze skull buried lightly into the sand. They hadn’t noticed it before because it was coated in a thick layer of dust and was even bigger than Spyro, so at first glance, they’d probably mistaken it for a boulder.

“Looks like some kinda… bird skull?” Spyro said.

“But it's huge! And it’s made of metal. Or at least I think it is…”

“oh , it definitely is.” Spyro said as he tapped a claw against it and it produced a metallic clinking sound.

Spyro crept around the strange object, examining it from every angle. It was strange because while it looked like some kind of skull, it also didn't at the same time. It was metal, for one thing, but it was also missing it’s lower jaw. Not to mention the fact that it was very rigidly constructed… then it hit him.

“This was made.” Spyro said, almost to himself.

“Yeah I guess that makes sense.” Sparx said casually, if not a little apprehensively.

Spyro continued his examination of the strange object and wondered as to its purpose. As he circled around the back of the skull, he realised that there were small strips of old leather hanging from the inside. These made him question the objects purpose even more. If it was simply a rendition of an animal skull, why put leather straps on it?

Spyro circled back around and looked at it head on, and it seemed almost to stare back at him. Almost as if it were crying out in despair. Like a ghost of someone’s long forgotten past. Something they wished to escape from but knew they never could. Perhaps that was why they had purposefully left it here.

“Like a phantom wound…” Spyro whispered to himself in contemplation. Then suddenly, he noticed that the pain in his paws was gone. It had been gone since he’d taken out that heron.

Sparx fluttered nervously, then said, “can we get outta here now? This place is give’n me the creeps.”

“Yeah, let's go back home. I wanna show everyone what we found.”

Sparx seemed almost like he was about to object to Spyro bringing the strange object with them, but remained silent as his brother grabbed the leather straps on the inside in his jaws and began dragging it out of the cave.

“Well, let's get outta here.” Spyro said through his teeth.

Sparx responded with a flustered “Don’t need to tell me twice”, then lead the way out of the cave.


	9. Stories

When Spyro and Sparx finally reached the village, the sun was just starting to set. Spyro immediately spat out the old leather attached to the interior of the metal bird skull, then flopped over and onto the ground. He panted from the exertion of having to drag, or occasionally push, the bronze skull so far through uneven terrain. However, when Spyro had dragged the skull out of the pond he’d realized that it wasn’t bronze, it was gold. It had been covered in such a thick layer of dirt, and what he could only assume was dried blood, that it had appeared at first to be made of bronze. The water washed a good bit of that grime away, revealing it’s golden sheen, but it was still fairly dirty.

“You O.K. there buddy?” Sparx asked amusedly, his arms crossed.

“How about…” Spyro wheezed in agitation and exhaustion. “Next time…” he paused once more to take heaving breaths, then finished. “You get to drag the heavy metal… thing.”

Sparx’s smirk did not waver as he said, “well I’m not the one who insisted we bring it.” Spyro glared at him sidelong as he continued. “You did this to yourself.”

For once, Spyro couldn’t think of a witty remark, so he simply said, “shut up.” then turned his attention away from the now snickering Sparx, who seemed rather satisfied with himself, and he focused on the golden skull laying next to him. The back of it was facing him, so he was looking at the straps on the inside. “I still can’t figure out what those could possibly be for…” Spyro wondered out loud. Before Sparx could say anything in response, a familiar voice said, “well it’s probably meant to affix it to something.”

Spyro and Sparx looked up to see Eliot hovering close, his mossy green glow glittering in the afternoon light.

“Oh, hey Eliot.” Spyro said enthusiastically. Then, he flipped himself over and back onto his belly, saying, “How's it been going?”

Eliot merely shrugged, saying “same old same old. That is, t’ll you came rollin up with this weird skull look’n thing.”

Spyro looked back over his shoulder to examine the strange object again. "Yeah, I guess what you said makes sense, but what would you attach it to?"

"Beats me." Eliot said crossing his arms.

"I know what it is." Said a raspy voice. 

Spyro, Sparx, and Eliot turned to see an old grey dragonfly sitting on a branch next to his house. Spyro glanced around and noticed that several other dragonflies had showed up to see what was going on. They were all kids. He even noticed Charlotte in the small crowd. Spyro's attention was brought back to the old grey dragonfly as Sparx said, "what's it for then?"

The old man laughed hoarsely for a moment before saying, "it's a dragon's helm. Dragons would put them over their heads to protect them from attacks."

Everyone was silent for a moment before spyro asked the question that was on all of their minds. "What's a dragon?"

The old man smiled at Spyro as though he were enjoying some inside joke that the scaly creature was unaware of.

"Well…" the old man began. "Dragons are an ancient race of creatures that once served as protectors… guardians, if you will, of our world." Now the old man had everyone's full attention, so he continued. "Dragons would wear helmets like this one…" the old man said as he indicated the golden helmet Spyro had brought back to the grove. "As well as other pieces of armour, to protect themselves from harm." The old dragonfly surveyed the crowd of curious children before him and asked, "would you like to hear a story about them?"

A chorus of enthusiastic cheers erupted from the crowd of children, and so the old dragonfly said, "well then, I suppose that's a yes then. Let's see…" __

* * *

__

_Once, there was an empire of dragons that harbored three righteous souls. There was the elder brother, who was powerful enough to take on even the mightiest of foes. Then there was the middle brother, who was clever and cunning enough to outsmart even the wisest of the elders. Finally there was the youngest sister, who's compassion and understanding could tame even the most vile of beasts._

__

_These three siblings loved each other with all their hearts, but they often disagreed when it came to how an enemy should be treated. The eldest brother believed brute force was the best way, but the middle brother insisted that deceiving the enemy was far more effective. The youngest sister stayed out of her elder brother's arguments, as that she did not approve of violence at all._

__

_Despite their differences the two elder brothers became members of the dragons royal guard, of which only the mightiest and most heroic individuals of the dragon race were admitted. Years passed, and the brothers learned how to work in tandem, and they became the greatest protectors in all the lands._

__

_One day, the middle brother was appointed as the head of the dragons royal guard. The older brother became envious of how the elders would have chosen his younger brother over him. He brought his frustrations to both of his younger siblings, and the two brothers demanded that their younger sister decide who should have been appointed. She would rather not have to decide, so she simply said that the elders knew what was best. Enraged, the eldest brother attacked the middle brother._

__

_The younger sister was able to break up the fight, but the king banished the elder brother from the dragon kingdom afterwards. The elder brother was gone for quite some years, but he eventually returned, and when he did, no one could stop him. The elder brother was teeming with dark energy, the likes of which none had ever seen. He killed the king in cold blood and proclaimed himself the king of all dragons._

__

_The elder brother was a tyrant of a king. He no longer sought to protect the realm as most dragons did. Instead, he forced all creatures great and small to bow to him. Eventually, the elder brother’s younger siblings deceived him, and they were able to seal him away in an alternate plain of existence for all eternity._

* * *

The children were awestruck, Spyro especially so. For some reason, even though he'd never heard that story before, never heard of dragons before, he couldn't help but feel like he knew them. What they were like, how they lived. It was a strange sensation, almost like déjà vu, but not quite. Suddenly, Spyro heard his dad’s voice saying, “alright, I think that’s enough story time.”

Everyone looked back and saw Flash and Nina hovering not too far off. Flash looked a tad bit annoyed and had a stern expression, while Nina looked a little exasperated and tired. She almost looked like she was regretting something. Arms crossed, Flash flew over to the older grey dragonfly and began talking to him in a low voice. Meanwhile, Nina addressed the children by saying, “why don’t you all go out and play? I’m sure you're all just bursting with energy, after all you are all still very young.” she said with a smile, though she seemed a bit resigned, or solemn. Spyro was about to ask her if everything was alright, but it seemed he was the only one who could tell something was amiss, seeing as that the crowd of children began complaining and begging for more stories from the older dragonfly.

Then, Spyro heard the older dragonfly say something akin to, “I understand…” or “as you wish”. Before Spyro could turn around, his dad appeared next to him as he flew over to his mom.

“Come along kids.” Flash said addressing the small crowd. “I think it would be best to leave the man be. I'm sure there are plenty of other, more fun and exciting things you could be doing.”

“Hold that thought for a moment…” the old man said, drawing everyone’s attention back to him. Spyro heard some sort of sigh or grunt from his right, and when he glanced over he saw his father, arms crossed and looking a bit annoyed, staring down the old man with steel in his eyes. It seemed Flash really didn’t want this man talking to Spyro and the other kids, but why?

"That story just reminded me of another one." Flash looked like he was about to object before the old man continued. “No need to worry Flash…" the old man said. "This story is a bit closer to home, and does not concern dragons." To that, Flash seemed willing to allow the old man to speak. Spyro was about to ask his father what was wrong with stories about dragons, but was caught off guard by the old man launching straight into his new story.

* * *

_Once upon a time, there lived three brothers in a swamp. The youngest brother loved playing with the animals and helping them care for their young. As for the middle brother, he helped keep the animals safe from outside forces. He cured those who were sick, and helped those who were hungry to find food. The eldest helped those who were past saving die peacefully. He ended the suffering of sick and dying creatures, whether plant or animal, they were all the same to him. He believed he was helping them reach a better place. After all, everyone dies eventually, so why be afraid of it?_

__

_One day, the eldest brother ended the suffering of a sick animal that he believed was past saving. Mere moments after however, the middle brother arrived with an herb that could have potentially saved the animal's life. The two of them began arguing about the morality of taking away life because you believe it to be the right thing to do, versus allowing an animal to suffer longer out of the vain hope of saving them. After the youngest brother broke up the argument, the eldest brother left them._

__

_After that, the middle brother tried saving everything and everyone he could. He tried to save creatures that were past saving, but he couldn't do it. All he succeeded in was allowing them to suffer longer. Not only that, but he was focusing his attention on those that were already far gone, and so the ones he could have saved died anyway. After a while, the eldest brother returned and asked the middle brother if he'd learned a lesson in his absence. And he had. He learned that his elder brother was playing mind games, trying to turn him into a killer by deliberately taking the lives of the creatures he was trying to save._

__

_The elder brother was appalled at the accusation, but he could not prove that it was false. So, the two brothers asked their youngest sibling to decide who was right and who was wrong. The youngest didn't want to choose, but his older brothers insisted that one of them had to be wrong. So, given no other option but to choose between them, the younger brother decided that the eldest was in the wrong. Outraged, the elder brother attacked the middle brother. It was a merciless battle, and the younger brother stayed out of it. In the end, the eldest brother lost, and both of his younger siblings threw him into the deepest part of the swamp and sealed him within a dark willow tree._

__

_Over time, the black willow poisoned the earth with the elder brother's sickly rotting soul. Sickness and death was spreading through the swamp, so the two younger brothers used their power to create a magic barrier of mist surrounding what would become known as the Black Bottom Bog. Within this barrier, the souls of the tormented animals were unable to escape as well as the elber brother's poison. Trapped, these souls merged into a single entity, the Ōmukade, a monster that consumes decaying flesh and rotting wood, but that also attacks the living with such ferocity that the two remaining brothers sacrificed themselves so that their souls may strengthen the barrier of mist. Together, they created the misty marsh and it has kept the black willow and the Ōmukade at bay for many, many years._

* * *

Once again, the children were awestruck. And when Spyro glanced to his right, he saw his father wearing a rather placid expression. It seemed he was alright with that second story. Before Spyro could ask his father what was wrong with dragons, Flash clapped his hands rather suddenly, gaining everyone's attention, saying, "well, I think that's enough for now. How's about you kids get home. I'm sure it's getting near your bedtimes.

Before any of the children could complain, Eliot openly agreed with Flash, telling the rest of them that they all needed to go home. He was the first to leave, then the rest of the kids began following slowly behind. Soon Spyro and Sparx were left alone with their parents.

"Well then…" Nina began. "I see you found a dragons helm. Might I ask where you found it?"

"It was in a weird cave at the end of a pond, but uh… why's that important?" Spyro asked.

"It's not, really…" Nina said. "I was just curious." She paused for a moment. "Honestly I'm surprised you never found it before. I'm certain you've explored the grove almost entirely by this point."

Spyro shrugged and looked back towards the helmet, and he wondered where he would put it. He decided it would go in his nest on top of the house. Although, he wasn't sure how he would get it up there. Looking back to his parents he said, "hey mom? Dad?"

"Yes Spyro?" Inquired Flash.

"Do you think you could take my helmet up to my nest for me?"

At first, Flash seemed… apprehensive? But he quickly agreed, and Nina and he taped into their magic to grab the helmet and they lifted it off the ground, taking it over to Spyro's nest atop their home. Spyro followed not too far behind. Nina and Flash set the helmet down right beneath the small tree growing beside his nest.

"Thanks guys." Spyro said as he laid next to the helmet. For a moment Flash and Nina were silent, simply watching as he got comfortable next to the dragon helm. Then, Nina hovered over and gave Spyro a kiss on the forehead, saying "goodnight".

Flash and Nina left, and Spyro and Sparx got ready for sleep. Before heading inside, Flash and Nina looked up at Spyro, curled up in a ball, sitting next to a golden helmet.

"Quite a familiar sight, is it not?" Flash asked quietly. Nina looked at him with an exasperated expression saying, "not this again. You know he's different. He's not like other dragons."

"And I agree, for the most part. He is quite like Ignitus. Though, even he has his faults."

"He's a good kid."

"I'm not saying he isn't, I'm just saying there are certain things, certain impulses, he can't control. He is a dragon, and he can't go against his instincts or his nature. You and I both know that."

"Can we please not talk about this out here? You should remember that dragons have great hearing."

Wordlessly, the two entered their small hut, and all was silent for the rest of the night.

**Author's Note:**

> \- ps.
> 
> feel free to leave feedback on my work, I would enjoy some constructive criticism, or even if you just what to tell me how much you love it! It's always encouraging to receive good feedback. it makes you want to keep going, you know? Also, since I'm new here, would someone be kind enough to leave a comment explaining how the hits and the kudos work? thanks!
> 
> \- pps.
> 
> sorry if the updates don't follow a very strict schedule, I write when I have the time.


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